Associations Between Knowledge of Health Conditions and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among US Adults, 2021

Background: Frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is associated with an increased risk of some health outcomes. Objective: We investigated the relationships between knowledge of health risks related to SSB and SSB intake among adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the 2021 SummerStyles survey. There were 4022 US adult participants (≥18 years). The outcome variable was SSB intake (none, >0 to <1, 1 to <2, or ≥2 times/day). The exposure variables were knowledge of the association between SSB and seven health conditions. Statistical analyses included seven multinomial regressions to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for the consumption of SSB according to knowledge of SSB-related health risks after controlling for sociodemographics. Results: Overall, about 30% of adults consumed SSB ≥ 2 times/day. While most adults identified SSB-related conditions such as weight gain (84.0%), diabetes (78.4%), and cavities (74.2%) as being related to drinking SSB, fewer adults recognized related conditions, such as some cancers (23.9%), high cholesterol (28.4%), heart disease (33.5%), and high blood pressure (37.8%). Knowledge of any of the health conditions was not significantly associated with consuming SSB ≥ 2 times/day compared to non-SSB consumers. Conclusions: Knowledge of SSB-related health conditions varied by sociodemographics but was not associated with high SSB intake. Future studies could explore other factors beyond knowledge that may influence adults’ high SSB intake.