Soft drinks and 'desire to drink' in preschoolers

Interest in soft drink consumption has increased following a dramatic rise in intake over recent years. Research to date has focused primarily on general trends in consumption or on understanding the mechanism by which soft drink consumption may be linked to weight gain. It is clear however that there is considerable individual variability in the extent to which soft drinks are consumed and factors potentially influencing intake have received little attention. This study examines how the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) construct 'Desire to Drink' (DD) relates to drink consumption, preferences and BMI-SDS. Three hundred and forty six same-sex twin children (mean age 11.2 years; s.d. 0.54; 56% female; 53% dizygotic) were weighed, measured and reported their liking for milk, water, fruit juice, fruit squash and sweetened soft drinks. Mothers reported on their child's drink consumption and completed the CEBQ. Scores on the CEBQ DD subscale were not significantly related to child BMI-SDS in this sample. Children scoring higher on DD had higher preferences for sugar-sweetened soft drinks (p = 0.016), fruit squash (p = 0.042) and milk (p = 0.020) than children scoring lower on the scale. DD was also positively related to more frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks (p = 0.017) and low calorie soft drinks (p = 0.003). No relationship was observed between DD scores and liking for or intake of water or 100% fruit juice. These findings suggest that the construct desire to drink in children is related to a liking for consuming sweetened drinks, and does not appear to simply denote greater thirst or hunger. This may have important implications for the ongoing development of dietary patterns and weight status in the longer term through an increased preference for sweet things in the mouth and a failure to compensate for calories provided by drinks.