Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Associated Factors in School-Going Adolescents of New Caledonia.

This cross-sectional study assessed sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and its associations with the sociodemographic and physical characteristics, behavior and knowledge of New Caledonian adolescents. The survey data of 447 adolescents from ages 11 to 16 years were collected in five secondary public schools of New Caledonia between July 2015 and April 2016. These data included measured height and weight, SSB consumption, sociodemographic characteristics, body weight perception, physical activity, and knowledge (sugar quantity/SSB unit; energy expenditure required to eliminate a unit) and opinions about the SSB‒weight gain relationship. Ninety percent of these adolescents declared regularly drinking SSBs. Quantities were associated with living environment (1.94 L·week in urban environment vs. 4.49 L·week in rural environment, = 0.001), ethnic community (4.77 L·week in Melanesians vs. 2.46 L·week in Caucasians, < 0.001) and knowledge about energy expenditure (6.22 L·week in unknowledgeable adolescents vs. 4.26 L·week in adolescents who underestimated, 3.73 L·week in adolescents who overestimated, and 3.64 L·week in adolescents who correctly responded on the energy expenditure required to eliminate an SSB unit, = 0.033). To conclude, community-based health promotion strategies should (1) focus on the physical effort needed to negate SSB consumption rather than the nutritional energy from SSB units and (2) highlight how to achieve sustainable lifestyles and provide tools for greater understanding and positive action.