Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Serum Uric Acid, and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

Objective: To evaluate whether sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, a significant source of dietary fructose, is associated with higher serum uric acid levels and blood pressure in adolescents. Study design: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 4867 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004. Dietary data were assessed from 24-hour dietary recall interviews. Sugar-sweetened beverages included fruit drinks, sports drinks, soda, and sweetened coffee or tea. We used multivariate linear regression to evaluate the association of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with serum uric acid and with blood pressure. Results: Adolescents who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages tended to be older and male. In the adjusted model, serum uric acid increased by 0.18 mg/dL and systolic blood pressure z-score increased by 0.17 from the lowest to the highest category of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (P for trend, .01 and .03, respectively). Conclusions: These results from a nationally representative sample of US adolescents indicate that higher sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with higher serum uric acid levels and systolic blood pressure, which may lead to downstream adverse health outcomes.