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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Frequent use of sugar products by schoolchildren in 20 European countries, Israel and Canada in 1993/1994

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The aim of this study was to describe the daily use of certain between-meal sugar products (soft drinks and sweets) of schoolchildren in 20 European countries, Israel and Canada as a part of the Cross-National Survey on Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children--a WHO Collaborative Study. The data were collected using standardised anonymous questionnaires in school classrooms during the 1993/1994 school year. In each country nationally or regionally representative samples of about 1,300 schoolchildren (450 in Greenland) were targeted. Use of sugar products was analysed according to sex, age, country, self-reported school performance and self-reported family economy. One third to one half of the children (30-48 per cent) drank coke or other soft drinks more than once a day in Israel, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Slovak Republic and Flemish-speaking Belgium. Use of soft drinks was very uncommon in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Estonia. The strongest association (odds ratios) was between the use of soft drinks and good family economy; in Russia (20.3), in Lithuania (11.3), in Latvia (10.0), in Poland (8.5) and in Estonia (8.0). In Israel, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Russia and French-speaking Belgium 41-29 per cent of the children ate sweets more than once a day. Boys drank soft drinks and ate sweets slightly more often than girls did. In conclusion, large differences were found between the different countries in the frequency of use of soft drinks and sweets. This should be considered when developing the content of oral health promotion programmes.