Food Selection, Obesity
Conditions
Brief summary
The primary objective of this study was to examine whether four nudging strategies influence beverage consumption behavior among Chinese university students. These interventions included sugar content information, health warning messages, hedonic labeling, and default option nudge. A between-subjects experimental design with a single factor was employed to assess the effects of these strategies on students' choices between sugar-sweetened and sugar-free beverages, thereby evaluating their effectiveness in promoting healthier beverage selections.
Detailed description
As the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and chronic diseases continues to escalate, excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has emerged as a growing public health concern globally. One approach to reducing beverage intake while conserving resources is the utilization of nudge strategies. Nudge strategies, characterized by their low cost and ease of implementation, facilitate individuals in making more accurate and beneficial choices in a predictable manner, through subtle interventions that do not prohibit any options or significantly alter incentives. This nudge experiment will be conducted in a classroom setting, where participants will be randomly assigned to one of five groups for beverage selection, completing a menu-based choice task: a no-nudge control group, a default option group, a hedonic labeling group, a sugar content information group, and a health warning nudge group.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALchoice architecture
Display the sugar content of the drink on the platform.
Sponsors
Nanjing Medical University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* college students * willing to participate
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The proportion (or likelihood) of selecting sugar-free beverages | day 1 | The probability of choosing a sugar-free beverage (binary outcome: sugar-sweetened = 0, sugar-free = 1) across five menu-selection tasks. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Participants' Perceived Intrusiveness of Nudges | day 1 | A 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) was employed. Higher scores indicate greater perceived intrusiveness. |
| Participants' Support for Nudges | day 1 | A 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) was employed. Higher scores indicate greater support for the nudging strategy |
| Participants' Perceived effectiveness of Nudges | day 1 | A 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) was employed. Higher scores indicate greater perceived effectiveness. |
Countries
China
Outcome results
None listed