Effects of School-Based Interventions on Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption among Chinese Children and Adolescents

• Published in: Nutrients 2021-05, Vol.13 (6), p.1862
• Main Authors: Zhu, Zhenni, Luo, Chunyan, Qu, Shuangxiao, Wei, Xiaohui, Feng, Jingyuan, Zhang, Shuo, Wang, Yinyi, Su, Jin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Behavior; Beverages; Community; Ecological models; Elementary schools; Glucose; Health facilities; Intervention; Knowledge; Middle schools; Public health; Questionnaires; Schools; Student retention; Students; Sugar; Surveys; Teenagers; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13061862

We set up a series of school-based interventions on the basis of an ecological model targeting sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction in Chinese elementary and middle schools and evaluated the effects. A total of 1046 students from Chinese elementary and middle schools were randomly recruited in an intervention group, as were 1156 counterparts in a control group. The interventions were conducted in the intervention schools for one year. The participants were orally instructed to answer all the questionnaires by themselves at baseline and after intervention. The difference in difference statistical approach was used to identify the effects exclusively attributable to the interventions. There were differences in grade composition and no difference in sex distribution between the intervention and control groups. After adjusting for age, sex, and group differences at baseline, a significant reduction in SSB intake was found in the intervention group post intervention, with a decrease of 35.0 mL/day (p = 0.034). Additionally, the frequency of SSB consumption decreased by 0.2 times/day (p = 0.071). The students in the elementary schools with interventions significantly reduced their SSB intake by 61.6 mL/day (p = 0.002) and their frequency of SSB consumption by 0.3 times/day (p = 0.017) after the intervention. The boys in the intervention group had an intervention effect of a 50.2 mL/day reduction in their SSB intake (p = 0.036). School-based interventions were effective in reducing SSB consumption, especially among younger ones. The boys were more responsive to the interventions than the girls. (ChiCTR, ChiCTR1900020781.)