By Dorey Scheimer - Cox Washington
Marketing is working when it comes to parents' decisions to give their children sugary drinks as a healthy option.
The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity released the results of a new study today revealing 96-percent of parents surveyed had given their children a sugary drink in the last month and believed the drinks were healthy.
“Although most parents know that soda is not good for children, many still believe that other sugary drinks are healthy options,” said Jennifer Harris, PhD., who authored the study.
The study found about 80-percent of parents with kids ages 2 to 5, gave them fruit drinks. More than a quarter of them considered those drinks, like Capri Sun or Sunny D, healthy. Forty percent of parents in that age group gave their children regular soda.
There is backlash, though, from the beverage industry, which has suffered as a consequence of the push against sugary beverages, like attempts to put a tax on soda.
The American Beverage Association spokesman called the Rudd Center “an institution with a long history of bashing beverages” in an emailed statement.
But the Rudd Center maintains the study is just the latest to support research children and teens consume more than the recommended amounts of sugar.
Parents who gave their children sugary drinks were influenced by labels that marketed “real” or “natural” ingredients.
Despite public health campaigns to educate parents on dietary guidelines that limit sugar, authors of the study believe more needs to be done.
“There also needs to be increased attention to ingredient claims on product packaging and other marketing tools that may mislead parents to believe that some sugary drinks are healthful options for their children,” said Marlene Schwartz, PhD., another study author.
The American Beverage Association disagrees with that assertion.
“As an industry, we provide clear, factual information on our all of our packaging, and even go beyond government requirements, to make sure parents have the information they need to make the choices that are right for them and their families,” said Chris Gindlesperger, senior director of public affairs for the trade group.
The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whose mission it is to combat childhood obesity by “eliminating consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among children 5 years old and younger.”
