Over the same period on a national scale, the highest consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in the world occurred in Nigeria, Mexico, Ethiopia, and the United States of America. From the study, the global consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages increased by 16 percent with sub-Saharan Africa experiencing the largest increase , while Latin America/Caribbean and high-income countries showed decreasing trends. The researchers found that there were 12.
The study underscored the critical role of diet and beverage consumption in health outcomes, emphasizing that unhealthy dietary habits contribute to conditions such as obesity, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Sugar-sweetened beverages were defined by their caloric content, including soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, lemonade, punch, and aguas frescas. They excluded non-caloric artificially sweetened beverages, 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices, and sweetened milk.
Rural areas in certain regions had higher sugar-sweetened beverage intake than urban areas, while education level and socioeconomic status influenced consumption patterns in diverse ways. The study also revealed a correlation between sociodemographic development index and sugar-sweetened beverages intake, indicating disparities in sugar-sweetened beverages consumption at the national level.