Fruit Drinks Contribute Most Calories To Teen Diets

Concluded that sweet drinks provide about 13 percent of a teenager's total calories--more than cakes, cookies and other sugary foods. Sodas and fruit drinks are also the single leading source of added sugars in a teen's diet, providing more than half of all added sugars they consume, according to the study.

Analysis of the survey showed that consumption of sodas and fruit drinks increases in a step-wise fashion as U.S children get older, while milk intake declines in a similar way--suggesting that milk is being displaced by soft drinks and juice drinks. By the time a child enters adolescence, he or she is drinking about twice as many sugary sodas and fruit drinks as milk.

"Our study found that milk is a primary source of nutrients in a child's diet, but milk consumption steadily declines as children grow older, which may prevent older children and teenagers from consuming the nutrients they need for growth and development," said lead researcher Mary M. Murphy, of Environ Health Sciences Institute.