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Change in drink purchases in 16 Australian recreation centres following a sugar-sweetened beverage reduction initiative: An observational study

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journal contribution
posted on 2020-03-04, 00:00 authored by Tara Boelsen-Robinson, Liliana OrellanaLiliana Orellana, Kathryn BackholerKathryn Backholer, Ariana Kurzeme, Alethea JerebineAlethea Jerebine, Beth Gilham, Alexandra Chung, Anna PeetersAnna Peeters
Objective : To assess the impact of a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction initiative on customer purchasing patterns, including volume sales of healthy and unhealthy packaged drinks and sales value of all packaged drinks, in a major Australian aquatic and recreation provider, YMCA Victoria.
Design : Prospective
Setting : 16 aquatic and recreation centres in Victoria, Australia.
Interventions : The SSB-reduction initiative aimed to remove all SSBs (excluding sports drinks) and increase healthier drink availability over a 1-year period.
Primary and secondary outcome measures : Itemised monthly drink sales data were collected for 16 centres, over 4 years (2 years preimplementation, 1 year implementation and 1 year postimplementation). Drinks were classified as ‘green’ (best choice), ‘amber’ (choose carefully) or ‘red’ (limit). Interrupted time series analysis was conducted for each centre to determine the impact on volume sales of ‘red’ and ‘green’ drinks, and overall sales value. A novel meta-analysis approach was conducted to estimate the mean changes across centres.
Results : Following implementation, volume sales of ‘red’ drinks reduced by 46.2% across centres (95% CI: −53.2% to −39.2%), ‘green’ drink volume did not change (0.0%, 95% CI: −13.3% to 13.2%) and total drink sales value decreased by 24.3% (95% CI: −32.0% to −16.6%).
Conclusions : The reduction of SSBs in health-promoting settings such as recreation centres is a feasible, effective public health policy that is likely to be transferable to other high-income countries with similarly unhealthy beverage offerings. However, complementary strategies should be considered to encourage customers to switch to healthier alternatives, particularly when translating policies to organisations with less flexible income streams.

History

Journal

BMJ Open

Volume

10

Issue

3

Article number

e029492

Publisher

B M J Group

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

2044-6055

eISSN

2044-6055

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2020, The Authors