Temporal trends of carbonated soft-drink consumption among adolescents aged 12-15 years from 18 countries from Africa, Asia, and the Americas

Carbonated soft-drink consumption is detrimental to multiple facets of adolescent health. However, little is known about temporal trends in carbonated soft-drink consumption among adolescents, particularly in non-Western countries. Therefore, we aimed to examine this trend in representative samples of school-going adolescents from 18 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Cross-sectional data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey 2009-2017 were analyzed. Carbonated soft-drink consumption referred to drinking carbonated soft-drinks at least once per day in the past 30 days. The prevalence of carbonated soft-drink consumption was calculated for each survey, and crude linear trends were assessed by linear regression models.
Data on 74,055 students aged 12-15 years were analyzed [mean (SD) age 13.9 (1.0) years; 49.2% boys]. The overall mean prevalence of carbonated soft-drink consumption was 42.1%. Of the 18 countries included in the study, significant decreasing, increasing, and stable trends of carbonated soft-drink consumption were observed in seven, two, and nine countries, respectively. The most drastic decrease was observed in Kuwait between 2011 (74.4%) and 2015 (51.7%). Even in countries with significant decreasing trends, the decrease was rather modest, while some countries with stable trends had very high prevalence across time (e.g., Suriname 80.5% in 2009 and 79.4% in 2016).
The prevalence of carbonated soft-drink consumption was high in all countries included in the present analysis, despite decreasing trends being observed in some. Public health initiatives to reduce the consumption of carbonated soft-drink consumption among adolescents are urgently required.