Mothers’ Nutritional Knowledge and Children’s Consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages: Evidence from Mexico City.

Childhood obesity is an important public health concern in Mexico, with sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) playing a significant role in caloric intake among young children. This study examines the relationships among mothers’ nutritional knowledge, parenting behaviors, socio-economic status and their children’s consumption of SSBs in Mexico City. Using survey data from 800 mother-child dyads, we analyze the impact of maternal education, health nutritional knowledge, and parenting practices on children’s consumption of SSBs. While soda consumption averages 4 servings per week for the children in our sample, the consumption of “aguas frescas” (sugar-sweetened fruit flavored water) is three times as high. Mothers recognize the unhealthiness of soda, but most view consumption of “aguas frescas” as a healthier alternative. Overall, maternal education and nutritional knowledge are not strongly associated with the consumption of SSBs by their children. However, parenting practices, such as using food as a reward, are strongly related to children’s beverage consumption.