Relation between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, nutrition, and lifestyle in a military population

Abstract

Objective to describe the demographic, socioeconomic, and nutritional behaviors associated with of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. Design: cross-sectional. Setting: in January 2014, 26,566 military personnel, representing 84.6% of the 31,412 men and women in active service were invited to participate in an online survey. Included questions were about consumption of fruits and vegetables, meat, SSB, number of breakfasts a week, and military rank. Subjects: 7,252 military subjects. Results: mean (standard deviation) age of the participants was 45.4 (7.9) years for 6,529 males and 41.9 (8.9) years for 723 females. Mean (standard deviation) body mass index was 26.6 (3.6) kg/m2 for males and 24.5 (3.9) kg/m2 for females. The probability of consuming daily SSB decreased with age, and with increasing body mass index, being female, and being a noncommissioned officer or officer. Consumption of fruits and vegetables decreased for daily SSB consumption, but meat consumption increased. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for daily SSB consumption was 0.65 (0.58-0.74) for daily breakfast and 1.49 (1.30-1.71) for smoking. There was no relation between physical activity and SSB consumption. Conclusions: SSB consumption was associated with attributes of a lower quality diet.