Top 34 Bestselling ‘ Fruit ’ Drinks For Kids Deemed Unhealthy

(CNN) — Americans spent $1.4 billion on the most popular brands of children’s fruit drinks and flavored waters last year. Yet according to nutritional guidelines, none of the drinks were healthy. Why would loving parents do this? Perhaps because US beverage companies spent $20.7 million to advertise fun, fruity drinks with added sugars to families in 2018, according to Children’s Drink Facts 2019, a new report from the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. “I know that parents want their children to be healthy, but the sweetened drink market is just incredibly confusing to parents,” said lead author Jennifer Harris, the principal investigator for the three-year study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The American Academy of Pediatrics is alarmed that children consume so much added sugar,” said Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and lead author of the AAP policy statement on ways to reduce sugary drink consumption in children and teens. “Added sugars increase the risk of many health harms including type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease and childhood obesity,” said Muth, who was not involved in the study. “Labels on drinks are confusing and misleading, causing parents to think they are providing their children a healthy drink when in actuality they are not.” Confusing marketing Two-thirds of the 34 sweetened drinks analyzed in the Children’s Drin...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health News Syndicated CBSN Boston CNN juice Source Type: news