Alberta teens drink more sugary drinks than Ontario teens: study

Alberta high school students are drinking 16 per cent more pop, sports drinks and other sugary beverages compared to teens in Ontario, a newly published study has found.

A mandatory nutrition policy in all Ontario secondary schools may account for that difference, said Katelyn Godin, a PhD student in public health and health systems at the University of Waterloo and the study’s lead author. Alberta’s nutrition guidelines for children and youth are optional in schools.

“If we were to put in place a policy that seeks to protect any group of people, it should be kids,” Godin said in an interview Thursday.

The finding was no surprise to Alberta researchers who prepare the province’s annual nutrition report card. The 2017 report card recommends Alberta adopt a mandatory provincewide policy that would make nutritious food more consistently available in school cafeterias and vending machines, and enforce that policy.

Of 38 school divisions that participated in one data-gathering project, about half had nutrition policies for their schools, the report card said.

The report card also said 80 per cent of the drinks in vending machines surveyed in eight Alberta schools were sugar-sweetened or caffeinated drinks such as pop or sweet coffees and teas.

“Some students are benefiting while others aren’t benefiting. What we would like to see is the province fill in those gaps and ensure all schools have supports and resources that are required to ensure that all schools have healthy eating environments,” said Kayla Atkey, a policy analyst for the Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention, which produces the nutrition report card.

The University of Waterloo study, which was published last month in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, used data gathered in 2013 and 2014 with the Cannabis Use, Obesity, Mental Health, Physical Activity, Alcohol Use, Smoking, Sedentary Behaviour (COMPASS) study, in which tens of thousands of students were surveyed.

The results showed Alberta high school students more frequently bought food at school, from fastfood restaurants or nearby stores compared to Ontario teens, who were more likely to bring their own lunch. Kids who brought their own lunch were also less likely to buy sweetened drinks.

There’s evidence linking consumption of sugary beverages to obesity, cavities, inadequate nutrition and other health problems, Godin said.

Students were also more likely to consume sweet drinks outside of school on weekends, which underscores the importance of other public places, such as recreation centres, offering healthy food and drink for sale, Atkey said.

Edmonton Public Schools has a policy that says schools will “promote healthy, reasonably priced food choices when food is sold or otherwise offered,” and encourage kids to eat healthy food.

Spokeswoman Carrie Rosa said individual principals decide how to offer those healthy choices.

Edmonton Catholic Schools’ nutrition administrative procedures say schools will offer only foods from the “choose most often” and “choose sometimes” list in the provincial nutrition guidelines.

The procedures tell Catholic schools not to serve pop — only milk, unsweetened juice and water.

The provincial government is using “carrots rather than sticks” to encourage nutritious choices, Education Minister David Eggen said in a Thursday statement. The province’s school nutrition program will expand to reach 30,000 elementary school students this year.