Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology

Biography

Biography: Roya Kelishadi

Abstract

This nationwide study aims to evaluate the association of beverage consumption with cardiometabolic risk factors and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels in children and adolescents. Students, aged 7-18 years, were selected from 30 provinces by multi-stage cluster sampling. The weekly use of six different beverage types including milk, juice, tea, coffee, soda and non-alcoholic beer, was documented. Data of 3733 students were complete for this study. The mean (SD) age of participants was 12.58 (3.15) years; 52.6% were boys, and 72.7% lived in urban areas. Beverages types were clustered into healthy, containing high amounts of sugar and containing high caffeine levels categories. Mean ALT level was 7.70(3.42) IU/L. Tea was the beverage with highest frequency of consumption (73% had daily or weekly consumption). Beverages containing high levels of sugar such as soda and non-alcoholic beer were significantly associated with higher levels of ALT. Model coefficient of regression (SD) was 0.66 (0.31) (P-value:0.034). Healthy beverages such as milk and fresh juice and also beverages containing high levels of caffeine did not have significantly association with ALT levels (p-value=0.32, p-value=0.60). Healthy beverages had a significant and inverse relationship with triglycerides (P-value=0.029), total cholesterol (P-value=0.008) and low density lipoprotein (P-value=0.008) levels. This study showed that consuming sugar sweetened beverages are significantly associated with higher levels of ALT, whereas healthy beverages are associated with a better cardiometabolic profile meaning that consuming healthy beverages leads to lowers TG, TC and LDL levels. The effects of beverages on children health should be emphasized in health recommendations.