Sweetened beverages, snacks and overweight: Findings from the Young Lives cohort study in Peru

Objective To determine the association between consumption of snacks and sweetened beverages and risk of overweight among children.Design Secondary analysis of the Young Lives cohort study in Peru.Setting Twenty sentinel sites from a total of 1818 districts available in Peru.Subjects Children in the younger cohort of the Young Lives study in Peru, specifically those included in the third (2009) and the fourth (2013) rounds.Results A total of 1813 children were evaluated at baseline; 49·2 % girls and mean age 8·0 (sd 0·3) years. At baseline, 3·3 (95 % CI 2·5, 4·2) % reported daily sweetened beverage consumption, while this proportion was 3·9 (95 % CI 3·1, 4·9) % for snacks. Baseline prevalence of overweight was 22·0 (95 % CI 20·1, 23·9) %. Only 1414 children were followed for 4·0 (sd 0·1) years, with an overweight incidence of 3·6 (95 % CI 3·1, 4·1) per 100 person-years. In multivariable analysis, children who consumed sweetened beverages and snacks daily had an average weight increase of 2·29 (95 % CI 0·62, 3·96) and 2·04 (95 % CI 0·48, 3·60) kg more, respectively, than those who never consumed these products, in approximately 4 years of follow-up. Moreover, there was evidence of an association between daily consumption of sweetened beverages and risk of overweight (relative risk=2·12; 95 % CI 1·05, 4·28).Conclusions Daily consumption of sweetened beverages and snacks was associated with increased weight gain v. never consuming these products; and in the case of sweetened beverages, with higher risk of developing overweight.