Reducing Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption Among Children

Lowering sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a central component of lifestyle behavior change aimed at preventing and managing obesity, yet effective reduction of SSB intakes has been met with many challenges. While their palatability, accessibility, publicity, affordability, and social acceptability contribute to frequent and sustained SSB consumption, their caffeine and sugar content may further encourage continued intake. Although adverse health consequences of excessive SSB consumption are well documented, the extent to which their pleasant taste (due primarily to their sugar content) and post-ingestive effects (due to their sugar and/or caffeine content) positively reinforce consumption among children has not been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot intervention to examine the feasibility of removing caffeinated SSBs from the child diet and to explore whether caffeinated SSB removal induces withdrawal symptoms in 8-11 (3rd-5th grade) year old children. Participants will be randomly assigned to replace their usual caffeinated SSB consumption with either caffeinated SSBs, caffeine-free SSBs or sparkling water provided by the study team for two weeks.