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Young Girls Who Drink Sodas Become Teens With Poor Diet Habits

Girls who are allowed to drink soda at age 5 become teenagers who have unhealthy diets, according to a new study from Pennsylvania State University.

  • Dr. Laura Fiorito and her colleagues followed 170 girls for ten years.
  • Those who were allowed to have soda at age five showed much lower intake of fiber protein, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium magnesium, phosphorus and potassium throughout the ten-year study than those not allowed to have soda at age five.
  • All the girls in the study had inadequate levels of recommended nutrients as teenagers.
  • By age 15, nearly all were drinking soda, although the "early soda drinkers" were drinking twice as much.

"We think that the patterns develop when they are younger," Dr. Fiorito said. "Some studies show that children are already drinking soda or carbonated beverages by age two."

The study appears in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
 

Labels: teenagers, nutrition, children

Posted By: Aspen Education Group

Comments:

Kensington on 9/9/2010
My parents were big on keeping us from drinking too many sodas while we were young. With the new generation, I'm surprised by how many kids drink sodas from dawn til dusk, especially at really young ages. The caffeine alone should be a concern.