January 12/Pharma Investments, Ventures & Law Weekly -- Over the past two decades, the number of adults consuming sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks, fruit drinks and punches has increased dramatically, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers examined changes over the past two decades in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption based on nationally representative survey data and found that sugar-sweetened beverages comprise a significant source of total daily beverage intake and are the largest source of beverage calories consumed daily. Their results are published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"More adults are drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, and among those drinkers, consumption has increased," said Sara N. Bleich, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management. "From 1988-2004, the percentage of sugar-sweetened beverage drinkers increased 5%. Per capita consumption of energy from sugar-sweetened beverages increased 46kcal per day, and daily sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among drinkers increased 6oz per day."