Sugary soft drinks causing obesity and tooth decay in Australian teens

ONE-quarter of Australian teenagers guzzle up to two cups of sugary soft drinks a day, causing them to have tooth decay and weight ­problems.

ONE-quarter of Australian teenagers guzzle up to two cups of sugary soft drinks a day, causing them to have tooth decay and weight ­problems.

WHY IT’S TIME TO BAN ‘SPORTS’ DRINKS

BEING SLIM WON’T PREVENT DIABETES

One in seven drinks more than two cups a day, a University of Sydney study of 3600 Australian teens found.

Even so-called healthier options, such as low-calorie diet soft drinks or sports drinks designed to boost performance, have negative health effects, the analysis showed.

Those who consumed popular energy drinks which contained caffeine or guarana were 61 per cent more likely to be obese compared to those who did not, lead author Dr Louise Hardy and her team found.

Energy drinks are designed to appeal to young people.

“Energy drinks are a relatively new class of beverage, with a marketing focus on their stimulant effects, crafted to appeal to young people,” Dr Hardy said in a paper in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, to be released on Thursday.

She said they were popular “despite health concerns that caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in ­energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and ­adolescents”.

Similarly, those who drank more than one cup a day of popular sports drinks were twice as likely to have abdominal obesity.

Daily consumption of each soft drink was “significantly associated with oral health impacts”, with the highest effect on those who consumed diet soft drinks.

“The odds of oral health impacts were two to threefold higher among adolescents who drink two or more cups daily,” Dr Hardy found.

[e-mail]