Sugar in Coffee or Tea and the Risk of Obesity: a Neglected Issue

Math-220

Desai

5-9-2011

Library Assignment: Statistical Methods

“Sugar in Coffee or Tea and the Risk of Obesity: A Neglected Issue

The intention of the study performed in this article was to show that sugar intake in coffee or tea is inversely associated with obesity. The study took place in 1985-86 at The Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Glostrup University Hospital, University of Copenhagen. Each subject was interviewed by a doctor (Ole Hein) about a previously completed questionnaire and was examined, with measurements of weight (kg), height (cm), neck circumference at the level of the shirt collar (cm), and hip fat fold (mm) using a skin-fold caliper about 4 cm proximal to the iliac crest (Gyntelberg et al. 57).

This inferential, cross-sectional study was performed on “The Copenhagen Male Study”, which was a prospective cardiovascular cohort study, established in 1970-71, which originally consisted of 5,249 caucasian men with a mean age of 48 years old with a range of 40-59. After a new baseline was established in 1985-86, participants from the original 1970-71 cohort were invited to take part in the new study. In total 3,387 men (75%) agreed and gave their informed consent, their mean age being 63 with a range of 53-74 years. The new study would include information about smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, tea and coffee use, avoidance of fatty food, social class, self- assessed health, and family obesity. Due to missing values 93 men were excluded from the study, which brought the total to 3,290 eligible men for the study. Analyses of the study was done using t test, chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses.

The results of the study showed interesting correlations between sugar use and an inverse association with obesity. The subjects were broken down into two groups, those that use added sugar in coffee or tea (n=1,182) and those that don’t (n=2,108). Overall, 291 men (8.8%) were considered obese, as in a...