Childhood beverage intake and risk of hypertension and hyperlipidaemia in young adults

Abstract

An epidemiological analysis assessing beverage consumption and risk factors for cardiovascular disease was conducted. Participants were 9–16 years old at enrolment, completed food frequency questionnaires in 1996–2001 and self-reported outcomes in 2010–2014. Exclusion criteria included missing data on relevant variables and covariates, prevalent disease before 2005, and implausible/extreme weight or energy intake. Intakes of orange juice, apple/other fruit juice, sugar-sweetened beverages and diet soda were related to the risk of incident hypertension or hyperlipidaemia using Cox proportional hazards regression, adjusting for diet, energy intake, age, smoking, physical activity and body mass index. There were 9,043 participants with 618 cases of hypertension and 850 of hyperlipidaemia in 17 years of mean follow-up. Sugar-sweetened beverage intake but not fruit juice nor diet soda was associated with hypertension (hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.16 (1.03, 1.31)) in males. This study can guide beverage consumption as it relates to early predictors of cardiovascular disease.

Keywords:

• Juice
• sugar-sweetened beverage
• diet soda
• hypertension
• hyperlipidaemia
• adolescent

Author contributions

JEC, MHC, QS, JEH and OKC designed research; JRS, SG, KH conducted research; JRS, SG, KH analysed data/performed statistical analyses; JRS wrote the paper; OKC had primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, OKC, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The Florida Department of Citrus, an executive agency of the state of Florida, provided funding for this project to Ock K. Chun, Contract Doc #17-16. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School provided the data of the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) for this study (life-course and CVD/lung disease infrastructure, grant #U01 HL145386). No party played a role in the design, implementation, analysis or interpretation of the study. JEH and JEC were supported by the National Institutes of Health (U01 HL145386).