![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/World-Diabetes-Day-14th-November-2018-10.jpg\")
The American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) and the American Heart Association(AHA) have recently released a suite of public health measures \u2014 including excise taxes, limits on marketing to children, and financial incentives for purchasing healthier beverages \u2014 designed to reduce kids\u2019 consumption of sugary drinks.\nThe policy statement reads that the excess consumption of added sugars, especially from sugary drinks, contributes to the high prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity, especially among children and adolescents who are socioeconomically vulnerable. It also increases the risk of dental decay, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, fatty liver disease, and all-cause mortality. The 2015\u20132020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that added sugars contribute less than 10% of total calories consumed, yet US children and adolescents report consuming 17% of their calories from added sugars, nearly half of which are from sugary drinks. Decreasing sugary drink consumption is of particular importance because sugary drinks are the leading source of added sugars in the US diet, provide little to no nutritional value, are high in energy density, and do little to increase feelings of satiety. To protect child and adolescent health, broad implementation of policy strategies to reduce sugary drink consumption in children and adolescents is urgently needed.
\nOn average, children and teens today consume more than 30 gallons of sugary drinks every year which is enough to fill a bathtub.
\nThe policy statement\u00a0 \u201cPublic Policies to Reduce Sugary Drink Consumption in Children and Adolescents,\u201d includes the following recommendations.<\/p>\n