Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2017 Aug 1;18(1):76.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4626-8.

'The university should promote health, but not enforce it': opinions and attitudes about the regulation of sugar-sweetened beverages in a university setting

Elly Howse  1   2 , Becky Freeman  3   4 , Jason H Y Wu  5   6 , Kieron Rooney  4   7
Affiliations
Comparative Study

'The university should promote health, but not enforce it': opinions and attitudes about the regulation of sugar-sweetened beverages in a university setting

Elly Howse et al. BMC Public Health. .

Erratum in

  • Erratum to: BMC Public Health, Vol. 18.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] BMC Public Health. 2017 Sep 22;17(1):736. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4709-6. BMC Public Health. 2017. PMID: 28938882 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to determine the opinions and attitudes of a university population regarding the regulation of sugar-sweetened beverages in a university setting, primarily looking at differences in opinion between younger adults (under 30 years of age) and older adults (30 years of age or older).

Methods: An online survey was conducted at an Australian university in April-May 2016 using a convenience sample of students and staff between the ages of 16 and 84 years. The survey included questions about consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and level of agreement and support of proposed sugar-sweetened beverage interventions. Quantitative response data and qualitative open-ended response data were analysed.

Results: Nine hundred thirteen responses from students and staff were analysed. In this population, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was low and awareness of the health risks of sugar-sweetened beverages was high. Overall, the surveyed population indicated more support for interventions that require higher levels of personal responsibility. The population did support some environment-centred, population-based interventions, such as increasing access to drinking water and reducing the price of healthier beverage alternatives. However there was less support for more restrictive interventions such as removing sugar-sweetened beverages from sale. Young adults tended to be less supportive of most interventions than older adults.

Conclusions: These findings indicate there is some support for environment-centred, population-based approaches to reduce the availability and appeal of sugar-sweetened beverages in an adult environment such as a university setting. However these results suggest that public health may need to focus less on educating populations about the harms associated with sugar-sweetened beverages. Instead, there should be greater emphasis on explaining to populations and communities why environment-centred approaches relating to the sale and promotion of sugar-sweetened beverages should be prioritised over interventions that simply target personal responsibility and individual behaviours.

Keywords: Sugar-sweetened beverages; Universities; Young adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The survey was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Sydney, project number 2016/124. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in completing the survey. All participants were required to read a Participant Information Statement and electronically agree to the Participant Consent Form before being able to access the survey.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of agreement of health conditions associated with SSB consumption
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Stroud C, Walker LR, Davis M, Irwin CE., Jr Investing in the health and well-being of young adults. J Adolesc Health. 2015;56(2):127–129. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.11.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vadeboncoeur C, Townsend N, Foster C. A meta-analysis of weight gain in first year university students: is freshman 15 a myth? BMC Obesity. 2015;2(22):1–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allman-Farinelli M. Nutrition promotion to prevent obesity in young adults. Healthcare. 2015;3(3):809–821. doi: 10.3390/healthcare3030809. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Australian Bureau of Statistics . Australian health survey: first results, 2014–15. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2015.
    1. Malik VS, An P, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;98(4):1084–1102. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.058362. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms