New study on beverage consumption in early care and education settings shows that children may be overconsuming sugar-sweetened beverages

A recent study provides insight on the beverage consumption of  U.S. children ages 12-60 months while in early care and education, or ECE, settings across multiple states from 2008-2020. A high quality diet, including beverages, early in life is important for building long-term healthy eating habits. The study analyzed data from 15 studies reporting on beverage consumption in ECEs. Unflavored milk was the most common beverage consumed at any meal by both younger children, 12-23 months, and older children, 24-60 months. The second most common beverage for younger children was 100% juice with an average intake of 2.2 fl oz per meal. The probability of drinking water at any meal was 9% for younger children, and less than 11% for older children. The average intake of water per meal was also lower than most other beverages with 1.7 fl oz in younger children and 2.3 fl oz in older children. While older children only had a 4.2% probability of drinking sugar-sweetened beverages at any meal, the average intake per meal was 6.9 fl oz. In comparison, they consumed unflavored milk at an average intake of 4.2 fl oz per meal. The findings show that given that it is recommended that young children do not drink any sugar-sweetened beverages, children in ECE settings appear to be overconsuming sugar-sweetened beverages. Policy changes should target water consumption and provide resources to have adequate safe drinking water in ECEs. This study was conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of Toronto, the Nutrition Policy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and the ECE Beverages Collective and funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.