Research
Adherence
SSB intake is inversely correlated with national Socio-demographic Development Index (SDI) by 2018, meaning higher national development is associated with lower national SSB intake, though within lower-SDI nations, higher individual education correlates with higher intake.
If you are in a developing nation, be aware that SSB marketing often targets the educated and urban demographics. High individual education does not protect against high SSB intake in these regions; in fact, it may correlate with higher intake.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
However, by 2018, an inverse correlation was evident between national SDI and SSB intake (r = −0.21, p = 0.004), with generally higher national intakes in countries with lower SDI.
Why this rating
Large observational dataset with statistical correlation.
Source
Sugar-sweetened beverage intakes among adults between 1990 and 2018 in 185 countries
Laura Lara-Castor et al. · Nature Communications · 2023
DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-41269-8
cross_sectionalCited 114×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Global sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake among adults increased by 16% (0.37 servings/week) between 1990 and 2018, with the most dramatic increases occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa (+81.9%) and specific high-population countries like Nigeria and Ethiopia.Good
- SSB intake is significantly higher in urban vs. rural areas globally (57.3% higher), with the largest disparities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while being lower in urban areas of the Middle East/North Africa.Good
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