BEVERAGE INTAKE AMONG JAMAICAN SCHOOL CHILDREN: AN ANALYSIS ACROSS CHILD AND SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT LEVELS

<p style="font-weight: 400;">Sugar-sweetened beverages, a subset of ultra-processed foods, are consumed frequently by children in Jamaica. Given the abundance of time children spend in school and the evidence for school-related determinants of dietary intake, school food environments can be key influencers of children&rsquo;s beverage consumption and drive their dietary behaviors and preferences. 907 primary school students (ages 7-11) in Jamaica were surveyed on their demographic information, nutrition-related preferences, knowledge, and consumptions patterns in 2018. School environment audits, documenting internal and external factors from the 22 schools which children attended, were completed at the same time.&nbsp; A two-part model was applied that considered children&rsquo;s probability of consuming each beverage type and the amount they consumed. Models accounted for both child-level characteristics and school food environment measures. Descriptive statistics revealed a large proportion of non-consumers of water (20.9%) and unsweetened beverages (19.8%). 15.3% of schools audited had indoor water sources, and nearly all students in the study were able to drink water while in their classroom (97%). Exploratory analysis indicated that, among water drinkers, girls in the study consumed 1.25 times the volume of boys. Furthermore, having parents of college/university level education was found to be associated with a significant increase of 134 mL water intake each school day and students&rsquo; inability to consume water in the classroom perfectly predicted their consumption of sweetened beverages. Collectively, child-level factors contributed to the modeling of all beverage types and external school environment measures were highly significant to the sweetened beverage model fit. External school measures were collectively associated with sweetened beverage consumption volume while unsweetened beverage intake is more likely impacted by classroom rules, school wide policies, and the internal school environment. Results support the inclusion of beverage regulations, both the promotion of unsweetened and the de-incentivization of sweetened drinks, in Jamaica&rsquo;s evolving national school nutrition policy. To be most effective in promoting students&rsquo; health, this policy should be backed by a suite of coherent legislation that supports healthy environments and nutritious food and beverage choices for Jamaican children in and around schools.