Objective: To compare the fruit, vegetable, and sugar sweetened beverage intake of college students who do and do not participate in dinner groups. Also, to determine if dinner group participation affects college students' perception of their overall health and adequacy of their fruit and vegetable intake. Design: A quantitative study of college students' fruit, vegetable, and sugar sweetened beverage intake through a one-time online survey. Setting: The survey was accessed via the internet at the time and place of students' convenience. Participants: A sample of 10,000 students was randomly selected from Brigham Young University's population of single students. 3,651 responded (a 37% response rate), but only 548 met our requirements and completed the survey. Sixty-one percent were female, 39% were male. Subgroups included students not belonging to a dinner group (n=243), students who met with a dinner group 1-3 times per week (n=167), and students who met with a dinner group 4 or more times per week (n=138).Main Outcome Measure(s): The independent variable measured was dinner group membership. Food intakes and perceptions were dependent variables. Food intakes were collected using adapted Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System recall questions. Perceptions were reported on a 1-5 Likert rating scale. Analysis: Post-hoc Tukey-Kramer adjustments were made to analysis of variance comparing intake and perception means. Statistical significance was set at p <0.05. Results: Prevalence of dinner group membership was 13%. Dinner group members drank significantly less soda than non-dinner group members (p=0.03). Intakes of fruits and vegetables did not differ between subgroups. Students' perception of the adequacy of their fruit and vegetable intake was aligned with their actual intake (p=0.0001); students who ate fewer cups rated their intake as poor more frequently than students who ate more cups. Dinner group members perceived better overall health and improved intake of fruit and vegetables from their participation in dinner groups. Conclusions: Though dinner group membership does not appear to affect fruit and vegetable intake, benefits were seen in reduced sugar sweetened beverage consumption. Further research may be warranted to examine other nutritional factors associated with dinner group membership as dinner groups may provide a unique opportunity for nutrition education and interventions and may provide more long term benefits than short term.

Introducción: El consumo de bebidas azucaradas (SSB) se ha relacionado con un incremento en el Índice de Masa Corporal (IMC), lo cual sería especialmente preocupante en poblaciones con un potencial de exposición prolongada, tales como estudiantes. Objetivo: Evaluar la relación entre el consumo calórico proveniente de SSB medido mediante el cuestionario Bevq-15 e IMC en estudiantes de carreras de ciencias de la salud de una universidad peruana. Materiales y métodos: Estudio transversal analítico en base a la medición del consumo calórico de 15 bebidas mediante la administración del cuestionario BEVQ-15 y la toma de medidas antropométricas a universitarios durante 2018 - 2019. Se evaluó la asociación cruda y ajustada usando modelos de regresión lineal. Resultados: Se incluyó a 350 personas. La mediana fue de 21 años y el 58.29% fueron mujeres. La mediana del IMC fue de 24.00 (21.75 - 26.90). El consumo promedio de calorías provenientes de bebidas azucaradas fue de 25.35 kcal/día. Se asoció un IMC menor con el sexo femenino (p<0.001), la carrera de nutrición (p=0.002) y nunca haber consumido tabaco (p=0.027). Se asoció un IMC mayor a la dislipidemia (p=0.014) y a un mayor consumo de calorías diarias provenientes de SSB (p<0.001). En el análisis multivariado se encontró asociación significativa entre el consumo de calorías provenientes de SSB y el IMC, ajustado por edad, sexo y tabaquismo (coeficiente β: 0.68; IC95% 0.04-1.33; p=0.037). Conclusiones: Se encontró asociación entre el consumo de calorías derivadas de SSB y un mayor IMC. Se debe impulsar intervenciones destinadas a la disminución de su consumo en estudiantes. / Introduction: The consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) has been related to an increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI), which would be especially worrisome in populations with a prolonged exposure potential, such as students. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the caloric intake from SSB measured by the Bevq-15 questionnaire and BMI in health sciences students at a Peruvian university. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional analytical study based on the measurement of the caloric consumption of 15 beverages based on the administration of the BEVQ-15 questionnaire and the measurement of college students’ anthropometric measurements during 2018-2019. The crude and adjusted association were evaluated using linear regression models. Results: We enrolled 350 participants. The median age was 21 years and 58.29% were women. The median BMI was 24.00 (21.75 - 26.90). The average consumption of calories from SSB was 25.35 kcal/day. A lower BMI was associated with the female sex (p <0.001), the nutrition career (p = 0.002) and never having used tobacco (p = 0.027). A higher BMI was associated with dyslipidemia (p = 0.014) and a greater consumption of daily calories from SSB (p <0.001). In the multivariate analysis, a significant association was found between the consumption of calories from SSB and BMI, adjusted for age, sex and smoking (β coefficient: 0.68, 95% CI 0.04-1.33, p = 0.037). Conclusions: An association was found between the consumption of calories derived from SSB and a higher BMI. Interventions aimed at reducing student consumption should be promoted. / Tesis

<p>  </p> <p>The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes has increased worldwide over the last decades. Sugar-sweetened beverages are especially problematic in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Although the proportion of Americans consuming SSB regularly has been steadily declining, added sugar intake still remains above recommendations by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and World Health Organization. However, alternatives to SSB exist on the market. For many years, the primary alternatives to SSB were low-calorie sweetened beverages, with sweetness replacers such as aspartame or sucralose. In recent years, options that are less sweet or unsweetened (instead of alternatively sweetened) have become increasingly available. These less-sweet beverages are available in similar packaging and at similar cost as SSB. Thus, these less-sweet beverages may be ideal options to reduce added sugar in the diet. However, few studies have tested switching consumers from SSB to less-sweet beverages (rather than low-calorie sweetened beverages or plain water), and thus the acceptability and implications of this dietary change are minimally documented. In this work, we tested less sweet soda-like beverages and unsweetened sparkling waters for potential to replace SSB. First, we showed that small reductions in sweetness in cola-flavored sodas are noticeable to individuals, meaning that any switch from SSB to less-sweet options will likely need to be overt to the consumer. Next, we conducted a 12-week intervention with adolescents, which showed that replacing SSBs with unsweetened sparkling waters leads to increased liking of less-sweet sodas and shifts in the ideal level of sweetness towards lower sugar concentrations. Building on these results, our final study shows that even just 2 weeks is enough time to induce these changes in acceptance of less sweetness in sodas, if a consumer prefers the higher concentrations of sugar at the beginning of the intervention (a “sweet liker”). Future studies are needed to evaluate how replacing SSB with less sweet options, leading to shifts in sweetness preference, might influence overall diet and risks for diet-related chronic diseases.</p>