Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: consumption of SSB has been increasing, due to urbanization and heavy marketing in low- and middleincome countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended to reduce intake of free sugars throughout oneâ��s life course and to reduce intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake. In the case of Mongolia, currently there is no study that has investigated total intake of water and beverages, daily beverage intake composition, and the association between weight status and consumption of SSB. The aim of this study was to examine how consumption of SSB affects the body weight of children and adolescents in Mongolia. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: A cross sectional survey was conducted between 2015 and 2016. A group of 353 relatively healthy children and adolescents aged 6-16 were selected from ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Chi-squared analysis was conducted to evaluate the association of categorical variables with body mass index (BMI) z-score subgroups. T-test or two-way ANOVA was performed to compare means. Beverage consumption was presented as means with standard deviation (SD) among sex and age groups. Findings: The data from 347 children and adolescents were analyzed. Boys represented 50.1% (n =174) and the mean age �± SD was 10.0 �± 2.9 years. Tea was the main beverage type in all age and sex groups compared to other types of beverages. Girls aged between 10 and 13 years old had the highest consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). And there was a markedly high consumption of SSB among overweight and obese children. Conclusion & Significance: Significantly higher consumption of SSB was seen among overweight and obese children. Detailed household and school-based observational and interventional studies should be performed using these findings to help policy makers to make evidence-based decisions about SSB.

Biography

Undram Mandakh is Ph.D. candidate with particular interest in global child health, child nutrition and family medicine. For last 3 years she has been working on association between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and childhood overweight. She works at Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences as faculty member. She holds a master’s degree in public health and bachelor in medicine from the Health Sciences University of Mongolia.

Email: undram@mnums.edu.mn