Teens may drink healthy beverages, but they still have too many sugary ones.

Almost three-quarters of 11,429 U.S. teens who responded to a national survey, reported drinking at least one glass of water each day during the previous week. Forty-two percent drank a daily glass of milk and 30% drank some kind of 100% fruit juice. However, 24.3% of teens reported drinking at least one sugar-sweetened soda every day, 16.1% used sports drinks daily, and 16.9% consumed another type of sugar-sweetened drink every day. Diet sodas were not as popular, with only 7% drinking them each day.

PositiveTip: Parents, schools and teens should limit intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and encourage water instead!

Women who drank 2 or more sodas per day had a 240% increased risk of gout.

Women drinking an average of one fructose-rich drink per day had a 74% greater risk of gout when compared to those who drank less than 1 non-diet soda per month. Researchers studied nearly 80,000 women for over 22 years and found a strong association between sweetened soft-drink and orange juice consumption and gout. Today, consumption of fructose-rich beverages in the U.S. is at an all-time high.

PositiveTip: Avoid the sweetened sodas and large amounts of fruit juice. Drink water and eat the fruit for better health.

During the past 25 years adults have more than doubled their daily consumption of sugary beverages.

Beverage intake patterns of adults and children have shifted dramatically over the past several decades according to a study of beverage consumption conducted at the University of North Carolina. Children aged 2-18 average 91 fewer calories from milk. What are the drinking instead? Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) have almost doubled from 87 to 154 calories a day for kids and more than doubling for adults from 64 to 142 calories per day. Adults are also drinking more than three times as many calories per day from alcoholic beverages.