This could help reduce children’s intake of sugary drinks, says study

US children drink more sugary drinks than is recommended, which increases their risk of a number of long-term illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as well as other health problems.

According to a new study, graphic images representing heart disease and diabetes may help people avoid buying or consuming sugary drinks.

Pictorial health warnings could cut purchases of sugary drinks, according to research published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine today.

When compared to barcode labels, parents bought fewer sugary drinks in a naturalistic retail setting when products had visual warnings about type 2 diabetes or heart damage.

The study says that requiring picture health warnings on sugary drinks could make people less likely to buy them.

Americans’ kids drink more sugary drinks than advised, raising their risk of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Text warnings have been shown to lower sugary drink consumption, but the effects of visual warnings have yet to be studied.

Marissa G Hall and colleagues from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill randomly assigned 325 parents of children aged 2 to 12 to an intervention or control arm and asked them to choose a drink, a snack, and a home item for their child in a naturalistic retail environment.

Pictorial health warnings concerning type 2 diabetes or heart disease were displayed on drinks in the intervention group, while barcode labels were used in the control group.

45 percent of parents in the control group bought a sugary drink for their child, compared to just 28 percent in the graphic warning group. Calories (kcal) from sugary drinks purchased were also reduced, with controls consuming an average of 82 kcal compared to 52 kcal for the graphic warnings group. Parents in the intervention group said they were more concerned about their decision and the consequences of sugary beverages, and they had fewer plans to serve sugary drinks to their children. Pictorial warnings could be a promising option for reducing children’s purchases of sugary drinks and the health consequences that come with them.

“Kids in the US consume too many sugary drinks, increasing their risk of a variety of health problems, from dental caries to chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes,” says Corresponding author Lindsey Smith Taillie, adding “We know from tobacco control research that warnings that include images are effective for reducing consumption. Our study is one of the first to show that this type of policy works for sugary drinks, too. This data provides evidence to support policies to require strong front-of-package warnings as a strategy to reduce children’s intake of sugary drinks.”

Source: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003885

Image Credit: Getty

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