Abstract
A survey was conducted on the soft drink intake by fifth and sixth grade elementary school children.The subsequent analysis was aimed at clarifying the relationship between the sugar intake from drinks and dietary habits. The most popular drink on both weekdays and weekends was milk, followed by such soft drinks as juice, sports drinks and carbonated drinks. The carbohydrate (sugar) intake from these drinks was36 g/day on weekdays and 47 g/day on weekends. The relationship between the sugar intake and dietary habits indicated that the sugar intake from drinks was higher for those children who often did their own shopping for food and who took part in sports activities. This drinking behavior suggests that it was affected by their sports activities and purchase of food without parental supervision and points to the need to include drinking habits as a teaching theme for nutrition education.
