Online Study of the Effects of Sugary Drink Warning Labels on Consumption

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Food Preferences

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

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05079477

844786

R01DK111558 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this study is to determine the degree to which sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) warning labels increase consumers' knowledge about the potential health harms of SSBs and reduce SSB purchases and consumption. 216 racially and ethnically diverse parents of children 6-11 years old will be recruited to buy snacks and beverages for four weeks via an online store that ships participants their purchases. Participants will be randomized to either 1) calorie labels (control); or 2) sugar graphic warning labels. The investigators hypothesize that sugar graphic warning labels displayed in an online store in weeks 2-4 will lead to the greatest reductions from week 1 across both primary outcomes compared to the control group that will only see calorie labels.

Full description

During this study, participants will shop in an online store created using Shopify for four weeks. In this within-participant design, the first week of shopping is baseline. Participants will then be randomized to different store interfaces for the remaining three weeks based on one of two warning label conditions: 1) calorie labels (control); or 2) sugar graphic warning labels. Participants will complete a brief survey at the start of the study to assess demographic information, information about parent and child beverage consumption, and their online shopping experiences. At the end they will complete another survey about their beverage consumption, their experience shopping in the store, whether they noticed and used the warning labels, and their ability to recall the warning label message. Participants will also be asked about their perceptions of a specific type of warning label in this final survey. Upon completion of the survey, participants will be shown a debriefing statement explaining the study purpose. After they read the information, they will be asked whether or not they consent to allow their data to be used in this study.

Enrollment: 216 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• a primary caregiver of a child 6-to-11 years old;
• >=18 years old;
• can read and speak English;
• primary grocery shopper for their household;
• have regular Internet access; and
• report that the oldest of their children between 6 and 11 years old is consuming sugar sweetened beverages at least twelve times per month or approximately three times a week

Exclusion criteria

• not a primary caregiver of a child 6-to-11 years old;
• <18 years old;
• cannot read and/or speak English;
• not the primary grocery shopper for their household;
• does not have regular Internet access; and
• does not report that the oldest of their children between 6 and 11 years old is consuming sugar sweetened beverages at least twelve times per month or approximately three times a week

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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216 participants in 2 patient groups

Calorie label

Active Comparator group

Description:

Calorie label (control) will display a calories per package label on all beverages, not just sugary drinks. This is modeled after the American Beverage Association's current "Clear on Calories" labels. Additionally, all snack items will have a calories per serving label.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure to calorie information

Sugar graphic warning label

Experimental group

Description:

All products in this arm will also have calorie labels. Beverages with added sugar will also have sugar graphic warning labels with the text: "WARNING: drinking beverages with added sugars contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay" along with graphics depicting the amount of sugar in the beverage.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Exposure to calorie information

Behavioral: Exposure to sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels