High Consumption of Discretionary Beverages in Young Australian Adults Aged 18–30 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Despite health advice and campaigns, discretionary beverages remain a source of added sweeteners (sugar and intense sweeteners) and fat in the dietary intakes of many young adults. This study aimed to determine discretionary beverage consumption amongst 18 to 30-year-olds residing in New South Wales, Australia. Data were collected in 2017/2018 during the MYMeals study in which 1044 participants recorded their food and beverage consumption over a three-day period, using the purpose-designed Eat and Track (EaT) app. Discretionary beverages included all water-based and milk-based drinks with added sugar, intense sweeteners or fats and excluded alcoholic beverages. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the proportion of consumers for different types of beverages, and contribution to overall energy and nutrient intakes. ANCOVA analyses compared the energy and nutrient intakes of consumers and non-consumers, adjusted for gender and age group. Sixty-two percent of participants with complete data (n = 1001) were classified as consumers of discretionary beverages. The most consumed beverages were soft drinks (39.0%) and flavoured tea/coffee (23.1%). The greatest proportion of nutrients contributed by discretionary beverages was total sugars (27.2% of total per consumers). In comparison to non-consumers, consumers of discretionary beverages had higher mean daily intakes of energy (kJ) (8736 versus 7294), and higher percentage energy (%E) from total sugars (16.5 versus 13.3) (p < 0.001) and saturated fat (12.5 versus 12.0) (p < 0.05) but lower protein (18.5 versus 20.5) (p < 0.001). The consumption of non-alcoholic discretionary beverages continues to be a source of significant energy and total sugars among young adults.