Last Updated: August 2019

Author: Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, Vermont Department of Health

According to the 2017 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 83% of adults consumed less than one sugar sweetened beverage per day. This is the same percentage as in 2013, the last time the question was asked. Sugar sweetened beverages are a contributor to obesity because these beverages have no nutritional value and many calories. People who drink sugary beverages do not feel as full as if they had eaten the same calories from solid food, and people drinking sugary beverages don’t compensate for their high caloric content by eating less food. These drinks include non-diet versions of sodas, sweetened teas, energy drinks and some juices.

Healthy Vermonters 2020 (the State Health Assessment) documents the health status of Vermonters and the population health indicators and goals that will guide the work of public health through 2020. This indicator was added to Healthy Vermonters 2020 in 2016 in recognition of the impact sugar sweetened beverages have on the obesity epidemic and on oral health. Limiting sugary beverages, which contain calories that don’t contribute to nutrition is critical to a healthy diet, along with eating at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day, whole grains and lean protein in addition to drinking plenty of water.

• Vermont State Parks, Agency of Natural Resources: The state park concession stands provide healthy beverages such as bottled water, 100% juice and seltzers.
• Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired: The Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired benefits from the sales from vending machines on state property. They are working to ensure more healthy beverages are available in the vending machines.
• American Heart Association: The American Heart Association has been a leader in reducing consumption of sugary beverages.
• American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society has been a leader in reducing consumption of sugary beverages.
• Vermont Department of Health Office of Oral Health: As sugary beverages can cause tooth decay, the Office of Oral Health promotes a reduction in sugar sweetened beverage consumption.

Multiple studies have shown the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain. This is one of the causes of obesity. But there are ways to combat sugary beverage consumption and other causes of obesity, in worksites and community settings.

The Vermont Department of Health has adopted strategies to support adults in making healthy choices about beverages. We work with worksites to help them create policies and environments that support workers’ efforts to eat healthy and be active.

In addition to worksites, we work to impact on health in other venues such as state parks and on state property. In 2016, Act 113 was passed by the Vermont Legislature. This Act mandates that healthy beverages and foods be available in all state venues and at state sponsored events. This includes in state parks and in vending machines on state property.

Vermont tracks risk behaviors and chronic disease using a telephone survey of adults called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Since 1990, Vermont, along with the 49 other states, Washington D.C. and U.S. territories, has participated in the BRFSS with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/brfss). The CDC provides the Vermont Department of Health with funding each year to carry out the survey. Several thousand Vermonters are randomly and anonymously selected and called annually, on both landlines and cell phones. An adult (18 or older) is asked a uniform set of questions. The results are weighted to represent the adult population of the state.

Note that beginning in 2011 the CDC implemented changes to the BRFSS weighting methodology in order to more accurately represent the adult population. While this makes calculations more representative of the population, the changes in methodology also limit the ability to compare results from 2011 forward with those from previous years. The Vermont Department of Health recommends that comparisons between BRFSS data from 2011 forward and earlier years be made with caution. Statistical differences may be due to methodological changes, rather than changes in opinion or behavior.

Prevalence and percentages are calculated by using descriptive statistical procedures using software such as SPSS, SAS, and/or SUDAAN. These statistics describe the proportion of individuals with a given trait in the population during a specified period of time.