A new study conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics has found increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by youth in the US.

Conducted with peopel aged 2-19 years between 2011 and 2014, the study found that about two-thirds of children in the country consumed at least one sugary beverage on any given day.

The researchers examined the number of times children and adults drank sugar-sweetened beverages such as regular soda, fruit juices, sports, energy drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas, and then calculated the number of calories, reported CNN.

The percentage of consumption is more in boys when compared to girls, while the calorie consumption through sugar-sweetened drinks increased with age in case of both genders.

The current US dietary guidelines suggest consuming less than 10% of daily calories from added sugars, while it is reported that consuming two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day amounts to more than 10% of the total daily calories among the children.

"The percentage of consumption is more in boys when compared to girls, while the calorie consumption through sugar-sweetened drinks increased with age in case of both genders."

The study indicated that 64.5% of boys and 61.3% of girls consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on any given day.

According to the data, youths consumed an average of 143 calories and 7.3% of their daily energy intake was from sugary beverages.

The study also showed that the consumption varied with race. Non-Hispanic Asian boys and girls were found to consume less calories and had the lowest mean percentage of total calories consumed on a given day compared with other race and Hispanic-origin groups.

Image: Sugar-sweetened beverages. Photo: courtesy of Alpha / Wikipedia.