Table 3.
Associations between excess free fructose (EFF) beverages and asthma in children aged 2–9 years, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2006
| Bivariate logistic regression | Multivariate logistic regression | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude association | Adjusted association (sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, age, energy intake) | |||||
| OR | 95 % CI | P value | OR | 95 % CI | P value | |
| tEFF* intake | ||||||
| ≤1 time/month | Reference | Reference | ||||
| 2–3 times/month | 0·66 | 0·16, 2·74 | 0·553 | 1·11 | 0·22, 5·51 | 0·896 |
| 1–4 times/week | 3·17 | 0·84, 11·92 | 0·085 | 4·55 | 1·22, 16·91 | 0·025 |
| ≥5 times/week | 4·02 | 1·15, 14·04 | 0·031 | 5·29 | 1·49, 18·72 | 0·012 |
| F(3, 28)=4·71 | F(12, 19)=5·27 | |||||
| n 1956 Prob>F=0·0088 | n 1920 Prob>F=0·0007 | |||||
| AJ† intake (adjusted for FD, ndSD) | ||||||
| ≤1 time/month | Reference | Reference | ||||
| 2–3 times/month | 1·41 | 0·57, 3·41 | 0·428 | 1·35 | 0·56, 3·26 | 0·487 |
| 1–4 times/week | 2·60 | 1·35, 5·00 | 0·006 | 2·76 | 1·39, 5·51 | 0·005 |
| ≥5 times/week | 2·06 | 0·88, 4·81 | 0·093 | 2·43 | 1·07, 5·54 | 0·035 |
| F(3, 28)=2·06 | F(18, 13)=7·33 | |||||
| n 1956 Prob>F=0·0016 | n 1783 Prob>F=0·0004 | |||||
| FD‡ intake (adjusted for AJ, ndSD) | ||||||
| ≤1 time/month | Reference | Reference | ||||
| 2–3 times/month | 2·52 | 1·12, 5·70 | 0·027 | 2·56 | 1·03, 6·36 | 0·043 |
| 1–4 times/week | 2·38 | 1·13, 5·00 | 0·024 | 2·00 | 0·85, 4·73 | 0·110 |
| ≥5 times/week | 1·90 | 0·89, 4·04 | 0·093 | 1·61 | 0·64, 4·05 | 0·299 |
| F(3, 28)=2·58 | F(18, 13)=7·33 | |||||
| n 1903 Prob>F=0·0737 | n 1783 Prob>F=0·0004 | |||||
| ndSD§ intake (adjusted for AJ, FD) | ||||||
| ≤1 time/month | Reference | Reference | ||||
| 2–3 times/month | 1·02 | 0·52, 1·99 | 0·944 | 0·85 | 0·40, 1·83 | 0·673 |
| 1–4 times/week | 1·02 | 0·53, 1·98 | 0·944 | 0·82 | 0·39, 1·70 | 0·576 |
| ≥5 times/week | 1·21 | 0·58, 2·54 | 0·601 | 1·00 | 0·43, 2·32 | 0·993 |
| F(3, 28)=0·16 | F(18, 13)=7·33 | |||||
| n 1853 Prob>F=0·9232 | n 1783 Prob>F=0·0004 | |||||
| OJ|| intake (adjusted for AJ, FD, ndSD) | ||||||
| ≤1 time/month | Reference | Reference | ||||
| 2–3 times/month | 0·85 | 0·44, 1·64 | 0·615 | 0·88 | 0·42, 1·86 | 0·733 |
| 1–4 times/week | 0·89 | 0·49, 1·61 | 0·689 | 0·63 | 0·31, 1·27 | 0·191 |
| ≥5 times/week | 0·81 | 0·41, 1·62 | 0·543 | 0·50 | 0·24, 1·05 | 0·065 |
| F(3, 28)=0·14 | F(21, 10)=5·34 | |||||
| n 1956 Prob>F=0·9371 | n 1783 Prob>F=0·0047 | |||||
Significant associations are shown in bold font.
tEFF (total excess free fructose) combines average intake frequency for AJ+FD+ndSD.
AJ (apple juice) is one of very few foods known to contain fructose in high relative proportion to glucose (approximately 2:1)( 23 ).
FD (non-diet fruit drinks) corresponds to sweetened fruit beverages, other than juices, known to contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as the main sweetener.
ndSD (non-diet soft drinks) corresponds to caffeinated and caffeine-free, non-diet soda; in 2003–2006 (the NHANES study period) HFCS was the main sweetener in soda( 47 ).
OJ (orange juice) is not an EFF beverage and is included for comparison. The ratio of fructose to glucose is approximately 1:1( 23 ).