Sugary beverages add a significant amount of sugar and calories to the diets of children and adolescents. Choosing healthy beverages, and low- or no-calorie options such as water, instead of high-calorie sugary beverages, has great potential to help children, youth, and families reduce caloric intake, improve diet quality, and reduce their risk for obesity and oral health problems. Yet, access to safe affordable drinking water is not equitable. Research in this area evaluates strategies to increase access to and consumption of healthy beverages and decrease access to and consumption of unhealthy beverages.

Research & Publications See all

December 2022

Water is K’é: A Community-Based Intervention to Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption by Navajo Preschool Children

This research brief gives an overview of the Water is K’é intervention, conducted among Navajo Nation families. The intervention was delivered by early care and education teachers to households with children ages 2-5, and covered the cultural importance of water, health benefits of water, and alternatives to sugary drinks. At baseline, more than 70% of children already More

October 2022

Effects of Sugary Drink Countermarketing Videos on Caregivers’ Attitudes and Intentions to Serve Fruit Drinks and Toddler Milks to Young Children

This study aimed to test the effects of countermarketing videos addressing common misperceptions about ingredients and claims on children’s sugary drinks. An online randomized controlled experiment was conducted in January 2021 with US caregivers (n = 600) of young children (aged 8‒37 months) to assess the effects of watching countermarketing versus control videos on intentions to serve More

October 2022

Effect of Front-of-Package Information, Fruit Imagery, and High–Added Sugar Warning Labels on Parent Beverage Choices for Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Fruit drinks are widely consumed by young children, and many parents mistakenly believe that these drinks are healthy, potentially due to front-of-package claims and imagery. This study aims to assess the effects of a front-of-package 100% vitamin C claim, fruit imagery, percentage juice and teaspoons of added sugar disclosures, and high–added sugar warnings on parents’ More

July 2022

Sweetened beverage taxes: Economic benefits and costs according to household income

Taxing sweetened beverages has emerged as an important and effective policy for addressing their overconsumption. However, taxes may place a greater economic burden on people with lower incomes. We assess the degree to which sweetened beverage taxes in three large U.S. cities placed an inequitable burden on populations with lower incomes by assessing spending on More