Effects of Sugary Drink Warning Labels on Parent Choices

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Food Preferences

Treatments: Behavioral: Exposure to sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels; Behavioral: Exposure to beverage calorie information

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04259385

33648 (Registry Identifier)

R01DK111558 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

R01DK111558_2

Details and patient eligibility

About

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a significant contributor to adult and childhood obesity. Policies to place health warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages are being pursued, but there is little empirical data on how such labels influence people. The proposed research will evaluate the impact of different types of sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels relative to standard calorie labels on the purchasing and consumption behaviors of parents and children.

Full description

The primary objective of this proposal is to determine, before wide-scale implementation, to what degree SSB warning labels increase consumers' knowledge about the potential health harms of SSBs and reduce SSB intake. The study is designed to answer two additional questions: 1) Do some warning labels work better than others? 3) If warning labels influence behavior, is it because they increase knowledge or simply provide a salient reminder that some drinks are less healthy? This aim is designed to test the effect of warning labels on total kilocalories (kcals) purchased and consumed by parents and children. We will examine how SSB warning labels influence snack and beverage purchases and intake among 405 racially and ethnically diverse parent-child pairs.

Enrollment: 1 patient

Sex: All

Ages: 6+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participant pairs must be:
• Primary caregiver of a child 6-11 years old; 18 years or older; can read and speak English; did not participate in related studies from our group
• Child is between 6 and 11 years old; drinks SSBs at least 12 times per month (~3 times per week)

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to participate in person in Philadelphia
• Parent did not purchase food and beverage for their child
• Parent or caregiver refused to give child permission to participate

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1 participants in 3 patient groups

Calorie/Control Label Condition

Active Comparator group

Description:

Beverages at the concession stand and in the parent survey in this arm will display solely a calorie label.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure to beverage calorie information

Text Warning Label Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Sugary beverages at the concession stand and in the parent survey in this arm will display both a text warning and a calorie label.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure to sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels

Behavioral: Exposure to beverage calorie information

Sugar Graphic Label Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Sugary beverages at the concession stand and in the parent survey in this arm will display a sugar graphic warning label depicting the amount of sugar in the product, the same text warning, and a calorie label.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure to sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels

Behavioral: Exposure to beverage calorie information