Half in U.S. drinks sugary drinks

ATLANTA, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Approximately one-half of the U.S. population age 2 and older consumes sugary drinks on any given day, a government report finds.

A report by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2008, says the percentage is lower among adult women, with 40 percent consuming sugary drinks on any given day, but 70 percent of boys age 2–19, consume sugary drinks on any given day.

Included in the definition of sugary drinks are: fruit drinks, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened bottled waters. However, sugary drinks do not include diet drinks,100 percent fruit juice, sweetened teas and flavored milks, the report says.

Among non-Hispanic black children and adolescents, 8.5 percent of total calories consumed in the diet are obtained from sugary drinks, higher than the 7.4 percent among Mexican-American children and adolescents. Among adults age 20 and older, non-Hispanic whites consume fewer sugary-drink calories as a percentage of total calories at 5.3 percent than do non-Hispanic blacks at 8.6 percent or Mexican-American persons at 8.2 percent.

People with higher-income consume fewer calories from sugary drinks as a percentage of total daily calories than do lower-income individuals, the report says.

The American Heart Association recommends drinking fewer than three 12-ounce cans of carbonated soda per week.