A Review of Effect of High Sugar Consumption in Children
Keywords:
Added Sugars, Children, Diabetes, Obesity, Sugar-Sweetened DrinksAbstract
High sugar consumption in the diet of children has become a serious issue due to its effect on eating habits, obesity and tooth decay. During the period from the 1990s to 2018, a significant increase of 23% in obesity was seen due to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or drinks. Highly processed products, which include highly added sugar in their composition are linked with an increase in BMI and waist circumference. The eating habits of their parents mostly influence dietary choices in children. Thus, an inclusive approach is needed to look into all aspects of lifestyle and nutrition, which may have a better long-term outcome. Dietary guidelines, educational campaigns, high taxes induced on sugar-filled beverages, policy changes, and public health initiatives are all important for sugar consumption decline and minimalizing harmful health effects.
References
Agarwal, V., Das, S., Kapoor, N., Prusty, B., & Das, B. (2024). Dietary fructose: A literature review of current evidence and implications on metabolic health. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.74143
Alam, Y. H., Kim, R., & Jang, C. (2022). Metabolism and health impacts of dietary sugars. Journal of Lipid and Atherosclerosis, 11(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.12997/jla.2022.11.1.20
Anderer, S. (2024). Children’s sugary drink intake has increased over 3 decades. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.15886
Baumann, A., Brandt, A., & Bergheim, I. (2022). Fructose, a trigger of metabolic diseases?—A narrative review. Exploration of Digestive Diseases, 1, 51–71. https://doi.org/10.37349/edd.2022.00005
Bestle, S. M. S., Christensen, B. J., Trolle, E., Biltoft-Jensen, A. P., Matthiessen, J., Gibbons, S. J., Ersbøll, B. K., & Lassen, A. D. (2020). Reducing young schoolchildren’s intake of sugar-rich food and drinks: Study protocol and intervention design for “Are you too sweet?” a multicomponent 3.5-month cluster randomised family-based intervention study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9580. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249580
Bovet, P., Banatvala, N., Ravussin, E., & Nederveen, L. (2023). Dietary sugars and NCDs. In R. Smith & J. Brown (Eds.), Global Handbook of Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention (pp. 164–170). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003306689-25
Colombo, S., & Paglia, L. (2024). Childhood obesity, sugar, and early childhood caries: The sweet trap. European Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, 25(4), 254–255. https://doi.org/10.23804/ejpd.2024.25.04.01
Cui, M. (2023). The impacts of sugar intake on the body and the feasibility of anti-sugar diet. Highlights in Science, Engineering and Technology, 80, 172–179. https://doi.org/10.54097/znk24q58
da Silva Barreto, J. R. P., de Oliveira Assis, A. M., de Santana, M. L. P., Pitangueira, J. C. D., de Magalhães Cunha, C., & de Farias Costa, P. R. (2022). Influence of sugar consumption from foods with different degrees of processing on anthropometric indicators of children and adolescents after 18 months of follow-up. British Journal of Nutrition, 128(11), 2267–2277. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114522000411
Della Corte, K., Fife, J., Gardner, A., Murphy, B. L., Kleis, L., Della Corte, D., Schwingshackl, L., LeCheminant, J. D., & Buyken, A. E. (2020). World trends in sugar-sweetened beverage and dietary sugar intakes in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 79(3), 274–288. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaa070
Dewi, A. M. P. D. P., Pamungkasari, E. P., & Murti, B. (2024). The impact of sugar intake, household income, and maternal education on the occurrence of dental caries in children: A meta-analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health, 9(2), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.26911/jepublichealth.2024.09.02.09
Dutta, A. J., Sinha, D., Konwar, S., Pegu, H. K., & Baruah, S. (2024). Sweeteners and sugar—their impact on human metabolic health and chronic diseases. Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia, 21(4), 1319–1327. https://doi.org/10.13005/bbra/3306
Ferreira-Junior, M. D., Cavalcante, K. V. N., Da Mota, A. P. C., & Gomes, R. M. (2023). Dietary sugars during critical phases of development and long-term risk of non-communicable diseases. Diabetology, 4(3), 243–250. https://doi.org/10.3390/diabetology4030021
Fisher, S. L., Campbell, G. J., Senior, A., & Bell-Anderson, K. (2024). The effect of high-sugar feeding on rodent metabolic phenotype: A systematic review and meta-analysis. NPJ Metabolic Health and Disease, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44324-024-00043-0
Fismen, A., Buoncristiano, M., Williams, J., Helleve, A., Abdrakhmanova, S., Bakacs, M., Bergh, I. H., Boymatova, K., Duleva, V., Fijałkowska, A., García‐Solano, M., Gualtieri, A., Gutiérrez‐González, E., Hejgaard, T., Huidumac‐Petrescu, C., Hyska, J., Kelleher, C. C., Kierkegaard, L., Kujundžić, E., … Breda, J. (2021). Socioeconomic differences in food habits among 6‐ to 9‐year‐old children from 23 countries—WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI 2015/2017). Obesity Reviews, 22(S6). https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13211
Gautam, N., Rahman, M. M., & Khanam, R. (2025). Socioeconomic inequalities in health behaviors in children and adolescents: Evidence from an Australian cohort. BMC Public Health, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21472-6
Haque, M., McKimm, J., Sartelli, M., Samad, N., Haque, S. Z., & Bakar, M. A. (2020). A narrative review of the effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on human health: A key global health issue. Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 27(1), e76–e103. https://doi.org/10.15586/jptcp.v27i1.666
Harris, J. L., & Jensen, M. (2024). Is food marketing feeding Americans’ sugar habit? In M. Nestle (Ed.), Marketing food to children and youth: Threat or opportunity? (pp. 482–492). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190671051.003.0054
Heilmann, A., Rivas, Y. A., & Watt, R. G. (2022). Diet and oral health. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 272–282). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-821848-8.00128-1
Krazl, A., & Mailow, T. (2022). Sugar shenanigans: Curbing the added sugar epidemic in children and adolescents. Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, 12(8), 184–195. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojemd.2022.128014
Lambrinou, C., Androutsos, O., Karaglani, E., Cardon, G., Huys, N., Wikström, K., Kivelä, J., Ko, W., Karuranga, E., Tsochev, K., Iotova, V., Dimova, R., De Miguel-Etayo, P., González-Gil, E. M., Tamás, H., Jancsó, Z., Liatis, S., Makrilakis, K., & Manios, Y. (2020). Effective strategies for childhood obesity prevention via school-based, family-involved interventions: A critical review for the development of the Feel4Diabetes-study school-based component. BMC Endocrine Disorders, 20(S2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-020-0526-5
Lara-Castor, L., Micha, R., Cudhea, F., Miller, V., Shi, P., Zhang, J., Sharib, J. R., Erndt-Marino, J., Cash, S. B., Barquera, S., & Mozaffarian, D. (2024). Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages among children and adolescents in 185 countries between 1990 and 2018: Population-based study. BMJ, e079234. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-079234
Malik, V. S., & Hu, F. B. (2022). The role of sugar-sweetened beverages in the global epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 18(4), 205–218. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-021-00627-6
Manolis, A. S., & Manolis, T. A. (2019, July 20). Sugary beverages pose significant risks to cardiovascular and overall health. Rhythmos. https://www.rhythmos.gr/index.php/Rhythmos/article/view/465
Margină, D., & Ungurianu, A. (2022). Dietary sugar intake: Public health perspective. In V. R. Preedy & R. R. Watson (Eds.), Dietary sugars: Chemistry, analysis, function and effects (pp. 711–718). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-824315-2.00071-3
Moore, J. B., & Fielding, B. A. (2022). Demystifying dietary sugars. In F. J. P. Eijkenaar (Ed.), Dietary sugars: Chemistry, analysis, function and effects (pp. 319–328). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82515-7_30
Morales-Ruán, C., Shamah-Levy, T., Valenzuela-Bravo, D. G., Uribe-Carvajal, R., Hernández-Palafox, C., Medina-Zacarías, M. C., & Gómez-Humarán, I. M. (2025). Effect of a nutritional education intervention on the reduction of added sugar consumption in schoolchildren in southeastern Mexico: Community study. Foods, 14(2), 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14020179
Morgan, K., Lowthian, E., Hawkins, J., Hallingberg, B., Alhumud, M., Roberts, C., Murphy, S., & Moore, G. (2021). Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption from 1998–2017: Findings from the health behaviour in school-aged children/school health research network in Wales. PLOS ONE, 16(4), e0248847. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248847
Naderer, B. (2020). Advertising unhealthy food to children: On the importance of regulations, parenting styles, and media literacy. Current Addiction Reports, 8(1), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-020-00348-2
Pamungkas, B. T., Rejeki, P. S., & Susanto, J. (2023). High fructose consumption increases liver GLUT-2 expression and the benefits of exercise on the liver metabolism: A literature review. International Journal of Research Publications, 139(1). https://doi.org/10.47119/ijrp10013911220235792
Perrar, I., Gray, N., Kuhnle, G. G., Remer, T., Buyken, A. E., & Alexy, U. (2020). Sugar intake among German adolescents: Trends from 1990 to 2016 based on biomarker excretion in 24-h urine samples. British Journal of Nutrition, 124(2), 164–172. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114520000665
Perrar, I., Schmitting, S., Della Corte, K. W., Buyken, A. E., & Alexy, U. (2019). Age and time trends in sugar intake among children and adolescents: Results from the DONALD study. European Journal of Nutrition, 59(3), 1043–1054. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-019-01965-y
Prada, M., Saraiva, M., Garrido, M. V., Sério, A., Teixeira, A., Lopes, D., Silva, D. A., & Rodrigues, D. L. (2022). Perceived associations between excessive sugar intake and health conditions. Nutrients, 14(3), 640. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14030640
Reis, R. A., da Cunha, I. P., Cainelli, E. C., Gondinho, B. V. C., Cortellazzi, K. L., Guerra, L. M., Reche, N. S. G., & Bulgareli, J. V. (2022). Analysis of the prevalence in sugar consumption in child care consultations. Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil, 22(3), 631–640. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9304202200030011
Remedios, L., Roy-Gagnon, M., Vanderlee, L., Hammond, D., & Kent, M. P. (2024). The impact of exposure to sugary drink marketing on youth brand preference and recall: A cross-sectional and multi-country analysis. BMC Public Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20770-9
Remedios, L., Roy-Gagnon, M., Vanderlee, L., Hammond, D., & Kent, M. P. (2023). The impact of country and exposure to sugary drink marketing on youth brand preference and recall [Preprint]. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3463763/v1
Ricciuto, L., DiFrancesco, L., Gaine, P. C., Scott, M. O., & Fulgoni, V. L. (2024). Associations between added sugars intake from various food and beverage sources and diet quality among the U.S. population. Nutrients, 16(24), 4333. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16244333
Ricciuto, L., Fulgoni, V. L., Gaine, P. C., Scott, M. O., & DiFrancesco, L. (2023). Intakes of added sugars, with a focus on beverages and the associations with nutrient adequacy in US adults (NHANES 2003–2018). Nutrients, 15(18), 3916. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15183916
Ricciuto, L., Fulgoni, V. L., Gaine, P. C., Scott, M. O., & DiFrancesco, L. (2021). Trends in added sugars intake and sources among US children, adolescents, and teens using NHANES 2001–2018. Journal of Nutrition, 152(2), 568–578. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxab395
Serasinghe, N., Vepsäläinen, H., Lehto, R., Abdollahi, A. M., Erkkola, M., Roos, E., & Ray, C. (2023). Associations between socioeconomic status, home food availability, parental role-modeling, and children’s fruit and vegetable consumption: A mediation analysis. BMC Public Health, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15879-2
Shanmugasundaram, S., & Karmakar, S. (2024). Excess dietary sugar and its impact on periodontal inflammation: A narrative review. BDJ Open, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41405-024-00265-w
Shi, Y., Liu, Y., Xie, Z., & Zhang, W. J. (2021). Fructose and metabolic diseases: Too much to be good. Chinese Medical Journal, 134(11), 1276–1285. https://doi.org/10.1097/cm9.0000000000001545
Vilela, S., Muresan, I., Correia, D., Severo, M., & Lopes, C. (2020). The role of socio-economic factors in food consumption of Portuguese children and adolescents: Results from the National Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey 2015–2016. British Journal of Nutrition, 124(6), 591–601. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114520001373
Witek, K., Wydra, K., & Filip, M. (2022). A high-sugar diet consumption, metabolism and health impacts with a focus on the development of substance use disorder: A narrative review. Nutrients, 14(14), 2940. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14142940
Yusuf, H. (2024). Is too much sugar bitter? The impacts of sugars on health. Community Dental Health. https://doi.org/10.1922/cdh_00108yusuf07
Zhu, Z., Luo, C., Qu, S., Wei, X., Feng, J., Zhang, S., Wang, Y., & Su, J. (2021). Effects of school-based interventions on reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Chinese children and adolescents. Nutrients, 13(6), 1862. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061862
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Sanjana Goyal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
