Reducing Dietary Added-Sugar Consumption During the Transition to College (ASUsugarLIA)

Arizona State University (ASU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Dietary Added Sugar Consumption

Treatments: Behavioral: General Health Control; Behavioral: Sugar Intensive Treatment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05823597

ASU SugarStudy LIA101

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this cluster randomized controlled trial was to compare the effects of two single-session interventions (sugar-intensive vs. general health control) on added sugar intake, motivation to reduce sugar consumption, and factual knowledge about added sugar 6 weeks later, in a sample of first-semester undergraduates.

Full description

Excessive sugar consumption is recognized as a critical public health concern. For many young adults, the transition to college presents both risk and a promising opportunity to encourage formation of healthy dietary habits. Capitalizing on this window of opportunity, we conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of two single-session interventions on added sugar intake in a sample of first-semester undergraduates. Participants received either an intervention primarily focused on reducing added sugar consumption or a general health behavior intervention with units on physical activity, sleep, and healthy diet. Participants' added sugar intake, motivation to reduce sugar consumption, and factual knowledge about added sugar intake were compared at follow-up.

Enrollment: 702 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Students aged 18 years and older, enrolled in online sections of a required transition-to-college course at a large public university in the Southwest region of the U.S. All students in online sections of this class received the single-session intervention during their normal class period, early in the Fall 2020 semester, and were eligible to participate.

Exclusion criteria

• Age < 18 years.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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702 participants in 2 patient groups

Sugar Intensive Treatment

Experimental group

Description:

The Sugar-Intensive Intervention touched on exercise, sleep, and other aspects of healthy diet, but focused primarily on added sugar reduction. Beyond defining added sugar, the sugar-intensive intervention also included: information on how sugar is metabolized; description of health risks associated with excessive added sugar; opportunities to rehearse women's and men's recommended daily maxima; a game guessing the sugar content of various foods and beverages; information on proportion of undergraduates at their university who report being motivated to reduce their sugar intake; training in finding added-sugar information in nutritional labels; and concrete suggestions for replacing high-sugar foods and beverages with healthy options, and managing tempting situations.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sugar Intensive Treatment

General Health Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

The General Health Intervention presentation covered Healthy People 2030 goals regarding physical activity (aerobic exercise, strength training), healthy eating (fruit, vegetable, and whole grain consumption; decreasing consumption of saturated fats and added sugar), and sleep (minimum of 7 hours per night), as well as healthy stress management/emotion regulation. The health benefits/risks associated with each goal were described, along with suggested strategies for achieving each goal. This version of the intervention also included a definition of added sugar and information about the recommended daily added-sugar maxima for women and men, but served mainly as an active control condition for testing the effects of the target intervention of interest.

Treatment:

Behavioral: General Health Control