Objective: To examine drinking patterns in pre-school children and their relationship to percentage of energy intake from non-milk extrinsic sugars.
Design: Secondary analysis of data from the national diet and nutrition survey (NDNS) relating to the dietary intakes of a representative sample of pre-school children in the UK.
Subjects: 1,675 children aged 1.5 to 4.5 years surveyed between July 1992 and June 1993.
Outcome measures: Proportion of consumers, average daily frequency of consumption and estimated seven day volume of consumption of different drinks. Percentage of average daily energy intake obtained from non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES).
Results: Soft drinks were the most commonly consumed drinks followed by whole milk and diet or low sugar varieties of soft drinks. Half the sample were estimated to consume more than 1.5 litres of soft drinks and whole milk and over a litre of diet or low-sugar soft drinks per seven days. Fifty-six per cent of the children consumed soft drinks more than once a day. The youngest children (1.5-2.5 years) were more likely to consume whole milk and less likely to consume diet, soft drinks and skimmed milk than other age groups. Children from manual home backgrounds consumed more tea and coffee and were less likely to consume fruit juice than those from non-manual backgrounds. Drinks contributed 23% to total energy intake and 39% of NMES intake. Consumption of soft drinks, fruit juice and whole and semi-skimmed milk accounted for 59% of variance in percentage of energy from NMES.
Conclusions: A large proportion of pre-school children consume considerable quantifies of soft drinks which have little or no nutritional value and are high in cariogenic non-milk extrinsic sugars. This has implications for children's dental and general health. Recommendations for drinks consumption should be included in food policy guidelines for pre-school children.