Kids choose less soda in school but still have sugary alternatives

A new study just published in the Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that recent changes to laws in the schools are making a difference with children's sugary beverage consumption.

The study found that only one in four high school students had easy access to sodas in school.  This is quite a difference when you compare it to four years ago when 50%  of the students could buy soda in school.

Middle schoolers also showed a positive change with only 13%  having access to soda when compared with 27%.

This is the good news.

But it seems that there are other sugary drinks still readily available according to the study.  Sports drink have added sugar and sodium.

I think some parents may be mislead by the title "sports drink".  But these sports drink can and do have extra sugar that kids don't need.  Most children are not involved in the high level, high intensity training that would benefit from "sports drinks.

How sugary is that sports drink?

You might be surprised to see just how much sugar is actually in some of the sports drink.  And what can be more of a problem is the portion size.  

Let's take a look at a real example:    

In this label, it shows that one serving is 110 calories and has 20 grams of sugar.

But also note that this bottle is 2 servings.  When your child drinks the whole bottle they will have had 

220 calories and 40 grams of sugar!

Now let's see how much sugar that really is:

20 grams / 4 = 10 teaspoons of sugar.

Now I ask you, would you put 10 teaspoons of sugar in anything you would give your child?

Read more about sugary drinks:

Steps To Reduce Sugar Drinks From Your Child's Routine