The potential link between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and post-exercise airway narrowing across puberty : a longitudinal cohort study

Objective: The prevalence of asthma is rising, presenting serious public health challenges. Recent data suggest that sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption plays a role in asthma aetiology. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether SSB consumption is linked to post-exercise airway narrowing (predictor of asthma development) across puberty. Design: Participants completed pulmonary function tests, physical activity and dietary habit questionnaires, and an exercise test to exhaustion. Setting: Community in Manhattan, Kansas, USA. Subjects: We recruited ten boys and ten girls from an original cohort of forty participants tested in our laboratory approximately 5 years prior. Participants were aged 9•7 (sd 0•9) years at baseline and 14•7 (sd 0•9) years at follow-up. Results: Pre-puberty, boys consumed 6•8 (sd 4•8) servings/week and girls consumed 6•9 (sd 3•7) servings/week, while post-puberty boys consumed 11•5 (sd 5•3) servings/week and girls consumed 7•7 (sd 4•3) servings/week. Using Pearson correlation, SSB consumption was not significantly related to post-exercise airway narrowing at pre-puberty (r=-0•35, P=0•130). In linear regression analyses, SSB consumption was significantly related to post-exercise airway narrowing post-puberty before (standardized β=-0•60, P=0•005) but not after (standardized β=-0•33, P=0•211) adjustment for confounders. Change in SSB consumption from pre- to post-puberty was significantly associated with post-exercise airway narrowing post-puberty (r=-0•61, P=0•010) and change in post-exercise airway narrowing from pre- to post-puberty (r=-0•45, P=0•048) when assessed via Pearson correlations. Conclusions: These findings suggest a possible link between SSB consumption and asthma development during maturation. Reduced SSB intake may be a possible public health avenue for blunting rising asthma prevalence.