"Youngsters are not generally aware of the calorific impact of common and popular sugar filled drinks. That is the clear conclusion of researchers from John Hopkins University who believe that telling youngsters of the high calorie content of such drinks makes comparatively little difference in dissuading them from buying them – whereas telling them how much physical exercise would be needed to burn off those calories really does make a big difference. Delivering the information in stark terms that shows the impact of these sugar filled, calorie heavy drinks (or “soda” as it is more commonly known in the USA) really does make adolescent think twice about whether they want them or not.
Previous studies have shown that giving consumers nutrition information at the point of purchase can influence their buying behavior, but the literature is inconsistent says Dr Sara Bleich, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
How the information is presented
The effectiveness may boil down to how the information is presented. Just putting information down in absolute terms relating to daily calorie requirements seems to be a little too abstract to have an impact in many cases. But when the information is presented in terms of a “physical activity equivalent” such as the number of minutes of running needed to burn off a sugary drink, then this may make more of an impact on people’s purchasing decisions, she said.
“People generally underestimate the number of calories in the foods and beverages they consume,” said Bleich.
“Providing easily understandable caloric information-particularly in the form of a physical activity equivalent, such as running – may reduce calorie intake from sugar – sweetened beverages and increase water consumption among adolescents.
“Because of the health problems associated with junk food, it is critical to explore the most effective strategies for presenting caloric information to consumers on fast food restaurant menu boards.”
Baltimore study in low-income areas
Bleich and colleagues collected data on 1,600 drinks sales at four neighborhood stores in low-income areas of Baltimore, studying sales primarily to black adolescents aged 12 to 18. After studying a control group of 400 purchases, they then specifically tried to intervene in 3 specific interventions relating to 3 different batches of 400 purchases by posting a sign with one of three different pieces of information.
Brightly colored signs, 8.5-inch-by-12-inches, were placed in a prominent location. The interventions were posted in the form of a question, as follows:
“Did you know that a bottle of soda or fruit juice has about 250 calories?”
“Did you know that a bottle of soda or fruit juice has about 10% of your daily calories?”
“Did you know that working off a bottle of soda or fruit juice takes about 50 minutes of running?”
The study showed that absolute calorie information made little information, and that highlighting the daily percentage of total calories made a marginally significant reduction in the likelihood that the kids would buy the drinks. This reinforces a New York study which in July reported that providing calorie information as food outlets only made a marginal decision in people’s purchasing decisions.
“Physical activity equivalent”
However, it was only the statement on the “physical activity equivalent” that made it significantly more likely that the kids would decide against buying the drink. In fact the purchases were reduced by almost a half.
The adolescents were shown to have drunk less iced tea and sports drinks, and more water as a result of the notices.
Can I really be bothered to go for a 50 minute run just to make up for this can of Coke? Is the trade off worth it? Clearly when faced with this stark question, the answer is usually negative. It is a highly provocative question.
So should junk food and these soft drinks now carry ‘exercise labels’ to combat the high sugar, high calorie and high fat content?
Super sweet soft drinks are being linked to a range of health conditions such as obesity, heart disease and type-2 diabetes. They tend to be more popular with people from poorer backgrounds and with teenagers.
More education is clearly needed to steer people towards balanced diets, with less processed and junk food. Just looking at calorie information in isolation is, after all, rather a crude device.
A previous report published by the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated that Americans are drinking far too many sugary soft drinks.
The study suggesting the use of exercise labels has just been published online in the American Journal of Public Health."
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