Trends in sweetened beverages consumption among adults in the Brazilian capitals, 2007-2016

Abstract

Objective: To analyse trends in sweetened beverages consumption among adults in Brazil between 2007 and 2016.

Design: A time-series analysis, with data from the Surveillance System of Risk and Protection Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (VIGITEL). The prevalence of regular consumption (≥5 d/week), the average daily consumption (millilitres) and the prevalence of non-consumption of these beverages were analysed. The temporal variations of the indicators were calculated by linear regression. The analyses were performed for the complete set of the evaluated population and stratified by sociodemographic characteristics.

Setting: Brazilian capitals and Federal District.

Subjects: Brazilian adults aged ≥18 years (n 519 641).

Results: There was a reduction in both regular and average daily consumption of sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages (-1·28 percentage points (pp)/year, P=0·001 and -9·63 ml/year, P=0·001, respectively). The same result regarding regular consumption was found when only sugar-sweetened beverages were analysed (-1·11 pp/year, P=0·011). Similar trends were identified in the stratified analyses, with a greater magnitude of reduction among males, young adults, those with higher schooling and residents of more developed regions. Coincidentally, there was an increase in the prevalence of adults who did not consume sweetened beverages (1·54 pp/year, P=0·005).

Conclusions: The consumption of sweetened beverages decreased during the period. However, a significant portion of the population still referred a daily consumption of these beverages.

Keywords: Chronic diseases; Obesity; Public health; Soft drinks; Sweetened beverages.