Health behavior patterns of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Brazilian adolescents in a nationally representative school-based study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 1; p. e0245203
• Main Authors: Rocha, Luana Lara, Pessoa, Milene Cristine, Gratão, Lucia Helena Almeida, Carmo, Ariene Silva do, Cunha, Cristiane de Freitas, Oliveira, Tatiana Rezende Prado Rangel de, Mendes, Larissa Loures
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07.01.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Alcoholic beverages; Beverages; Biology and Life Sciences; Brazil; Cardiovascular diseases; Child; Consumption data; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Demographic aspects; Dependent variables; Education; Exercise; Female; Food; Food Preferences; Food processing; Geography; Health aspects; Health Behavior; Health risks; Humans; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Nutrition; Pediatrics; People and Places; Physical activity; Physical Sciences; Principal components analysis; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; Schools; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; Students; Sugar; Sugar-Sweetened Beverages; Teenagers; Variables; Youth; Brazil
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245203

Studies on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption patterns can help in the individual and population level management of chronic non-communicable diseases and other conditions. This study aimed to identify the association between health behavior patterns and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among Brazilian adolescents from a nationally representative school-based study. A cross-sectional study analyzed data from 71,553 adolescents aged 12-17 years who attended public and private schools in Brazilian cities, from the Study of Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents. Principal component analysis was performed to identify health behavior patterns, and ordered logistic regression was performed to identify the association between health behavior patterns and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (mL/day) was used as the dependent variable. The analyses were performed using Stata software version 14.0 with a significance level of 0.05. Patterns 2 (alcoholic beverage and smoking habit) and 3 (ultra-processed food and screen time) of health behaviors and regularly purchasing snacks in the school cafeteria increased the odds of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, while pattern 1 (water, unprocessed and minimally processed food and physical activity) decreased these odds. The adoption of healthy habits can indirectly stimulate the adoption of other habits beneficial to health. These results indicate the importance of adopting a set of regulatory measures to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.