The present study assesses the impact of beverage consumption pattern on diet quality and anthropometric proxy measures for abdominal adiposity in Spanish adolescents. Data were obtained from a representative national sample of 1,149 Spanish adolescents aged 10-18 years. Height, weight, and waist circumferences were measured. Dietary assessment was performed with a 24-h recall. Beverage patterns were identified by cluster analysis. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by the KIDMED index. Three beverage clusters were identified for boys--"whole milk" (62.5 %), "low-fat milk" (17.5 %) and "soft drinks" (20.1 %)-and for girls--"whole milk" (57.8 %), "low-fat milk" (20.8 %) and juice (21.4 %), accounting for 8.3, 9.6, 13.9, 8.6, 11.5 and 12.9 % of total energy intake, respectively. Each unit of increase in the KIDMED index was associated with a 14.0 % higher (p = 0.004) and 11.0 % lower (p = 0.048) probability of membership in the "low-fat milk" and "soft drinks" cluster in girls and boys, respectively, compared with the "whole milk" cluster. Boys in the "soft drinks" cluster had a higher risk of 1-unit increase in BMI z score (29.0 %, p = 0.040), 1-cm increase in waist circumference regressed on height and age (3.0 %, p = 0.027) and 0.1-unit increase in waist/height ratio (21.4 %, p = 0.031) compared with the "whole milk" cluster.
Conclusion: A caloric beverage pattern dominated by intake of "soft drinks" is related to general and abdominal adiposity and diet quality in Spanish male adolescents.