"Quench your thirst with water," is one of the official dietary guidelines.
Unfortunately, it seems that Danish children and adolescents prefer to drink something with more flavor – and significantly more additives.
3 out of 4 drink more juice, soda, or energy drinks than the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration recommends. At the same time, 4 out of 10 children are considered “heavy consumers,” meaning they drink more than four times the recommended amount. For 16-20-year-olds, this number is over half.
This is shown in a new study of Danish children's drinking habits, conducted by Epinion for us.
We are now backing the initiative 'Only Water', which aims to make plain water more accessible in the country’s schools, clubs, gyms, and other places where children and adolescents spend their time daily. Our director, Morten Grønbæk, explains:
"We face the challenge of making it easier for children and adolescents to develop healthier drinking habits. This requires easier access to cold drinking water. At the same time, we need to work on changing the norms and habits that make sugary drinks a regular part of daily life," he says.
The Healthy Alternative
The study is based on responses from 3,000 children and adolescents or their parents about drinking habits and beverage consumption.
The research shows that many children and adolescents do not drink water every day. Among 13-20-year-olds, about 15 percent do not drink water daily. However, this is not evenly distributed. At the country’s 10th-grade centers, FGU (Further Education for Young People), or vocational schools, about 30 percent do not drink water every day.
"Soda, energy drinks, and other sugary beverages take the place of the nutrients that children and adolescents need. They also contribute to an excessively high sugar intake. If we can replace some of the consumption with plain water, it could have a positive health effect on many – especially among vulnerable groups," says our Head of Research, Nina Geiker.
We have invited a wide range of educational institutions, organizations, and researchers to participate in the 'Only Water' initiative. Together, we aim to figure out how to make water more accessible and attractive in the country's schools, educational institutions, sports clubs, and similar places where children and adolescents gather, and how to encourage them to use these resources.
Watch our Head of Research, Nina Geiker, talk more about the study in the video:
