I am a sport and exercise science student embarking on a research project – to investigation if a relationship exists between the BMI of college students aged 16 to 19 and the sugar content in the drinks they purchase. As a way of comparing the hypothesis and method of my investigation I will review the literature of five abstracts and five other sources that are related to the topic of my project; each will have one or more link to the population, measure or variable of my investigation. Forshee et al (2008) studied effect of sugar-sweetened beverages and body mass index in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. They were hoping to determine whether the results of the original research supported the hypothesis that consuming sugar-sweetened beverage was associated with weight gain among children and adolescent. They used 12 original studies of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain involving children and adolescents, they used forest and funnel plots to examine the data. Then sensitivity tests were conducted to examine the robustness of the meta-analysis results. The results collected stated the overall estimation of the association was 0.004 change in BMI during the time period defined by the study for each serving per day change in sugar-sweetened beverages consumption with the fixed-effect model and 0.017 with the random-effects model, concluding that the quantitative meta-analysis and qualitative review found that the association between sugar sweetened beverages and BMI was near zero, based on the current scientific evidence. This research links to my investigation as we share the same measures of BMI, also our variable is similar mine being high sugar content drinks compared to theirs of sugar-sweetened beverages. Malik et al (2008) reanalysed the meta-analysis of the effect sugar sweetened beverages and BMI in children and adolescents. They summarised in a literal way what was done, the results and conclusion of Forshee et al (2008) meta-analyses. They then explained the reason for their reanalyses was because they believed that had found faults in the percentage weights for several studies that were shown by forest plots and appeared incorrect. They conducted a meta-analysis on the same data using a scaled coefficient t and SEs. Overall Malik et al findings contrasted those of Forshee et al, insisting there is a positive association between sugar-sweetened beverages intake and BMI among children. This research shares the same measure of BMI and also a similar variable to sugary drinks, it also supports my hypotheses that there is a link between intake of high sugar content drinks and a higher BMI. Gower el at (….) studied the relationship between stress and eating in college students. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between the amount of stressors among college-aged students and their eating habits. They got male and female full time college students aged 18-23 were asked to participate in the study. They used a compulsive eating scale (CES) was used to measure uncontrollable eating patterns of the participants, they also used the stressful situations questionnaire to measure stress in the participants. The participants entered the classroom and seated themselves at a desk receiving both surveys and were asked to complete honestly. The results were done my using a Pearson r statistic to analyse the data. Using an alpha level of .05 and 80 degrees of freedom, the null hypothesis was rejected. The obtained r of 0.22 was less than the critical r of 0.38. A significant correlation between the amount of over-eating and stress was found. A positive correlation existed between the two suggesting that as stress increased for the traditional college student between the ages of 18 and 25, food consumption or overeating also increased. They population of this studied linked to mine, in we have a similarity of college aged students, but they different in theirs looks a stress and over eating and mine the consumption of high sugar content drinks. West et al (2006) studied the effect of sugar sweetened beverage intake among college students. Their objective was to characterise sugar-sweetened beverage intake of college students. They used undergraduates in an urban southern community campus; the participants were surveyed anonymously about their sugared beverage consumption in the past month. The results that were found from the investigation said 265 students (66% women, 34% male). 95% of students reported consuming sugared beverages in the pass month and 65% reported a daily intake. Men were more likely than women to consume daily (74% vs. 61%). This abstract links to my investigation as we share the same populations of college students and variable of sugar sweetened drinks. However it doesn’t use the same quantative measure of BMI. They used a similar method of surveying the participants to find out about sugared drink intake, mine will differ in that it will be designed to obtain knowledge about their lifestyles as well. Ludgwid et al (2011) the relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Their aim was to examine the relation between rising prevalence of obesity in children and sugar sweetened beverages. 548 ethnically diverse school children from public schools in four Massachusetts communities and studied them prospectively for 19 months. The association between baseline and change in consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks was examined and the difference in measures of obesity with linear and logistic regression analyses adjusted for potentially confounding variables and clustering of results within schools. From there investigation it was found that for each additional serving of sugar-sweetened drink consumed, both body mass index and frequency of obesity increased after adjustment for anthropometric, demographic, dietary and lifestyle variables. Concluding there is an association with the change in BMI and sugared drinks. The investigation carried out by Ludgwid et al, uses the same measure of BMI as my planned investigation. Unlike mine they did a longitudinal study, mine is a one of investigation only analysing BMI on one occasion.
The University of California San Francisco’s website contains a page under patient education called ‘sweet drinks and obesity’, this webpage states in the past decades there has been a rise in consumption of sweetened drinks and obesity in children. It contains details of ‘The truth about’ juice and soda, with details of the calories they have in them and the true health benefits or down falls. It suggests alternative drinks child can consume that aren’t sugar sweetened. Its purpose is to inform the readers and was written by a University applying it is of reliable factual information. This information is useful as it gives the supporting information that would validate me conducting my investigation. Despite it being about children and my investigation is researching adolescences, I believe the same principles apply. The article also helped me in knowing which drinks to use.
http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/sweet_drinks_and_obesity/
The Harvard School of Public Health’s website has a page titled ‘sugary drinks’, it contains information about what consuming sugary drinks does, the facts and statistics about obesity in adults and children in the United Sates, the costs related to treating obesity-related conditions, the roles marketing has on the sugary drinks industry. It aim is to provide timely information on diet and nutrition, this is important because it allows anyone worldwide who is able to access the internet the ability to educate themselves on the subject; hopefully resulting in them making a positive change to their life or their families regarding the consumption of sweetened beverages. The results of the page suggest they believe there is a definite link between obesity and the consumption of sweetened beverages. It is useful to my investigation as the information supports the other abstracts I have read and coincides with the other sources I have read. The only down fall if the population groups it discusses is differs from mine – the countries and age of people.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/sugary-drinks/
The NHS states guidelines as to the recommended daily amount adolescence should exercise. It states at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day, this should range between moderate intensity activity and vigorous intensity activity, on three days a week these activities should involves muscle and bone strengthening activities. The guidelines from this website link to the second hypothesis in my investigation, that if a person exercises according to this guidelines then it may counteract the effects of consuming high sugar content drinks. This information is useful as it will be imputed into the collection of my qualitative data via a lifestyle questionnaire.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-young-people.aspx
The BBC’s article entitled ‘poll shows most want sugary drinks banned from UK schools’ states that two thirds of people support a ban on sugary drinks in all schools, they go on to say from the poll they carried our four out of ten people would support a tax on sugary drinks and 59% said there should be warnings on this high sugar content products similar to those on cigarette packaging. This article is influence to my investigation as results from my research such as what I am carrying out could be used as a fore or against argument as to whether the taxing and warning labels on sugary drinks are necessary. Also the article being shows this issue surrounding sugary drinks is a current problem in the UK and my investigation is relevant because it is linked to this present issue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27254780
Rivington & Blackrod High School on the website Teenage Health Project have created an online information article ‘Energy Drinks Information’. This look specifically looks at the high sugar drinks ‘energy drinks, it lists the ingredients and gives a description of what and where the substances come from, it then continues to list common findings from studies regarding children drinking energy drinks – lack of sleep, increased behaviour, anxiety, weight gain and tooth decay. I believe this article is important to my investigation because it has made me aware of other health related issues that may be related to consuming high sugar content drinks, especially tooth decay which i know from watching programs like ‘Junk Food Kids: Who’s to Blame?’. Knowing about these other implications may be useful if in the future i decided to do more research in sugar drinks and there effects.
http://www.rbhs.co.uk/teenagehealth/energy-drinks
The above five abstracts and five sources are similar in that they all state consuming sugary drinks has a direct link to increasing weight, also none state there are any positive impact of consumption. All of the abstracts that weren’t meta-analysis used surveys or questionnaire as part of a way obtain information for their own research. Three of the other sources were alike in they gave facts and figures regarding calories, ingredients ect. involved in consuming sugary drinks, they were designed to deliver advice and information for those who read them. The main differences between the other sources and abstracts was the other sources all used information they have retrieved from other sources not from investigations or experiments they had done themselves, whereas the abstract were all results from studies they had composed and carried out by the individuals who published the work (excluding the mete-analysis’s). Another difference is all abstracts and other sources vary slightly in there population, no two focus exactly on the same population group. Some are more generalised (all people or men and women), others are more specific (adolescences or children).
The weakness of some of them is they were based in America and there population and lifestyle and the types of drinks they have are different too those of my investigation in the United Kingdom, this means the information I have read my not be able to be applied to my investigation. A weakness of the abstracts specifically was that there one that covered the same population, measure or variable as my own investigation. The weakness of the other sources is, I wasn’t able to fully figure out the reliability of the source of the information. Despite all these weaknesses, I agree with all that was concluded within the sources as they all firmly suggested some with scientific evidence that there is a relationship between BMI and the consumption of sugary drinks, and this is what I have hypothesised for my own investigation.
The two key question that have arisen from my research for this literacy review are – What is the strength of the relationship between BMI and consuming sugary drinks? Is there anything that can counteract the effects of consuming sugary drinks. Both of these questions link too my two hypothesises and are both questions I hope to answer as a result of my investigation through quantitative and qualitative data I will collect. From the research I have no I believe the outcome of my project till show there is a relationship between BMI and consuming sugary drinks and this relationship will be that if you drink high sugar content drinks your BMI ill increase as a result.
Forshee, R., Anderson, P., Storey, M. 2008. Sugar-sweetened beverages and body mass index in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis1’2’3’4. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(6), p.1662-1671. Malik, V., Willett, W., Hu, F. 2008. Sugar-sweetened beverages and BMI in children and adolescents: reanalyses of a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(1), p.438-439. Gower, B., Hand, C., Crooks, Z. 2008.The relationship between stress and eating in college aged students. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 7(0), West, D., et al. 2006. Self-reported sugar sweetened beverage intake among college students. Obesity (silver spring), 14(10), p1825-1831. Ludwig, D., Peterson, K., Gortmaker, S. 2001. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. The Lancet, 357, p.505-508.
Worthing College Sport and Exercise Science 