Impact of Knowledge of Health Conditions on Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Varies Among US Adults

Purpose: This study examined associations between knowledge of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB)-related health conditions and SSB intake among US adults.

Design: Quantitative, cross-sectional study.

Subject: The 2014 SummerStyles survey data for 4163 US adults (≥18 years) were used.

Measures: The outcome measure was frequency of SSB intake (regular soda, fruit drinks, sports or energy drinks, sweetened coffee/tea drinks). Exposure measures were knowledge of 6 SSB-related health conditions: weight gain, diabetes, cavities, high cholesterol, heart disease, and hypertension.

Analysis: Six logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for consuming SSBs ≥2 times/d according to knowledge of SSB-related health conditions.

Results: Overall, 37.8% of adults reported consuming SSBs ≥2 times/d. Although most adults identified that weight gain (80.2%), diabetes (73.6%), and cavities (71.8%) are related to drinking SSBs, fewer adults identified high cholesterol (24.1%), heart disease (31.5%), and hypertension (33.0%) as being related to drinking SSBs. Crude analyses indicated that lower SSB intake was significantly associated with knowledge of the associations between SSBs and weight gain, diabetes, cavities, and heart disease. However, after adjustment for covariates, only lack of knowledge of the association between heart disease and SSBs was significantly associated with consuming SSBs ≥2 times/d (OR = 1.29) than non-SSB consumers.

Conclusions: The finding that knowledge of SSB-related health conditions, in general, was not associated with high SSB intake suggests that knowledge on SSB-related health conditions alone may not be sufficient for adult behavior change.