Soft drink consumption patterns among Western Australians.

Objective: To examine soft drink consumption across age, gender, socioeconomic, and body weight status groups within an adolescent and adult population.

Design: Cross-sectional telephone survey.

Participants: Western Australian residents (n = 1,015) aged 16-65 years, selected through random dialing.

Variables Measured: Frequency and quantity of sugar-sweetened and diet soft drinks consumption, sociodemographic characteristics.

Analysis: The Kruskal-Wallis test of association for non-parametric data was used to explore differences in quantity of soft drinks consumed. Logistic regression models used to explore type of soft drinks consumed by sociodemographic factors and weight status.

Results: A greater proportion of females consumed no soft drinks (29.2%) or diet soft drinks only (20.9%), compared with males (21.7% and 14.0%, respectively) (P < .05). The youngest (16-24 years) consumers of sugar-sweetened soft drinks consumed twice (median, 3 cups/wk) as much as the eldest (55-65 years) (1.5 cups/wk) (P < .05). Respondents classified as overweight or obese were 1.7 times more likely to drink both sugar-sweetened and diet soft drinks compared with other respondents (P = .02).

Conclusions And Implications: This study identified a high prevalence of soft drink consumption within the population (74.5%). These results identify young people (16-24 years of age), as well as males, as population groups to target through public health interventions to reduce soft drink consumption.