Is Beverage Consumption Related to Specific Dietary Pattern Intakes?

Evaluating dietary patterns, rather than the consumption of single food items or nutrients, can provide a greater understanding of diet and health relationships. Dietary pattern research has been specifically identified as a research gap by the US Dietary Guidelines Committees. The purpose of this review was to determine if associations exist between the intake of commonly consumed beverages and specific dietary patterns. This review provides strong evidence that the consumption of water, unsweetened tea/coffee, low-fat milk, artificially sweetened beverages, and fruit/vegetable juice closely align with a Prudent dietary pattern; and conversely, the consumption of high-fat milk, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages are strongly associated with a Western dietary pattern. Future directions include: 1) continuing to examine beverage intake patterns and define their relationship to dietary patterns, 2) developing a measure of overall beverage intake quality to assess beverage patterns, and 3) identifying beverage patterns that are associated with health and disease outcomes.