Association of soda drinks and fast food with allergic diseases in Korean adolescents: a nationwide representative study

Introduction: A high consumption of carbonated soft drinks (i.e., soda drinks) and fast food is potentially asso?ciated with the observed global rise in adolescent allergic diseases. Thus, our study aimed to examine the potential associations between the consumption of soda drinks and fast food and allergic conditions, identifying specific re?lationships across subgroups and each allergic condition (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis). Methods: This study uses large-scale data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (total n = 865,614). Soda drinks and fast food were defined by a self-reported questionnaire and allergic conditions by physician-diagnosed within Jinyoung Jeong, Hyesu Jo, and Yejun Son contributed equally as first authors. Edited by: Angela Haczku, Sacramento, CA. karger@karger.com www.karger.com/iaa © 2024 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel Correspondence to: Jaeyu Park, qkrwodb980 @ gmail.com Selin Woo, dntpfls @ naver.com This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Dong Keon Yon, yonkkang @ gmail.com NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC) (http://www. karger.com/Services/OpenAccessLicense). Usage and distributionfor commercial purposes requires written permission. Downloaded from http://karger.com/iaa/article-pdf/doi/10.1159/000539518/4247630/000539518.pdf by Anglia Polytechnic University user on 26 July 2024 1 year. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the weighted odds ratios (ORs), along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for allergic diseases associated with the intake of soda drinks and fast food. Results: Among 865,614 adolescents in grades 7–12 (male, 51.40%), pa?tients with asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis were 18,568 (2.15%), 153,536 (17.74%), and 59,014 (6.82%), respectively. Current asthma was associated with soda drinks (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03–1.12) and fast food con?sumption (1.25; 1.17–1.33). Interestingly, stronger associ?ations were observed for female high schoolers, compared to male high schoolers and middle schoolers, in relation to the consumption of soda drinks (1.31; 1.19–1.44) and fast food (1.46; 1.26–1.69) with asthma. Current allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis had no significant association with fast food consumption and soda drinks. Conclusion: This first large-scale study suggests that fast food and soda drinks consumption are potentially associated with current asthma, with stronger associations observed in females than males, underscoring the need for sex-specific allergy prevention programs