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INTRODUCTION: beverage consumption constitutes a source of children's daily energy intake. Some authors have suggested that consumption of caloric beverages is higher in children with a low socioeconomic position because families limit their spending on healthy food in order to save money. OBJECTIVE: the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between socioeconomic status and Spanish children's beverage consumption. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted in a sub-sample of 182 children (74 girls) aged 9-11 from the province of Cuenca (Spain). Beverage consumption was assessed using the YANA-C assessment tool, validated for HELENA study. Data for parental socioeconomic status were gathered by using self-reported occupation and education questions answered by parents and classified according to the scale proposed by the Spanish Society of Epidemiology. RESULTS: beverage intake was higher in children belonging to a middle-status family than in those of upper socioeconomic status (p = 0.037). The energy from beverages was similar in most water intake categories, except for water from beverages (p = 0.046). Regarding other beverages categories, middle-status children had higher consumption levels. In contrast, lower status children drank more fruit juices and skimmed milk. All of these do not show statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: our study did not find significant associations between beverages consumption and socioeconomic status in children. In fact, intake for most beverage categories was higher in middle-status children than in both other socioeconomic groups. Future research is needed in order to identify this complex relation between socioeconomic inequality and beverage intake behavior.
Tobarra et al. (Fri,) studied this question.