Washington, Nov 8 : Policies banning sugar-sweetened beverages in schools does not appear to reduce consumption among adolescents, a new study has revealed.

The US study found that state policies banning all sugar-sweetened beverages in schools reduced in-school access and purchase of these beverages, but do not lead to the reduction in overall consumption of these drinks among adolescents.

Daniel R. Taber, Ph. D., M. P. H., and colleagues from the University of Illinois at Chicago, examined state policies that banned all sugar-sweetened beverages in schools compared with states that banned only soda or had no beverage policy for in-school purchases.

The researchers found that the proportion of students who reported in-school sugar-sweetened beverage access and purchasing were similar in states that banned only soda compared with states with no beverage policy.

Overall, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was not associated with state policy as the authors found that in each policy category, approximately 85 percent of students reported consuming sugar-sweetened beverages at least once in the past seven days, and 26 percent to 33 percent of students reported daily consumption.

Additional analysis indicated that overall consumption had only a modest association with in-school sugar-sweetened beverage access.

“Our study adds to a growing body of literature that suggests that to be effective, school-based policy interventions must be comprehensive,” the researchers concluded.

The finding was published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (ANI)