Knowledge and acceptance of interventions aimed at reducing sugar intake in Portugal

Abstract

Objective: Governments worldwide have been implementing interventions aimed at improving citizens’ dietary habits. Examining how individuals perceive these interventions is relevant for promoting future policies in this area, as well as informing the way they are designed and implemented. In the current study, we focused on interventions aimed at reducing sugar intake in Portugal, given the current high sugar consumption patterns in the population. Design: Online survey to assess which interventions are the most salient and receive greater public support. Setting: Portugal. Participants: 1010 (76·7 % female, MAge 36·33, sd 13·22). Results: Data from a free-recall task showed that only about one-third of participants reported knowing about these interventions, namely those related to taxation, weight restrictions in individual sugar packets and limited availability of products with high sugar content. We also found evidence of high support for the eight interventions presented (except for replacing sugar by artificial sweeteners), positive attitudes towards the need of reducing sugar intake in the Portuguese population and high agreement with the importance of reducing sugar intake across all age groups, particularly among children. Participants also indicated paying attention to the amount of sugar in their diets and a low self-reported frequency of consumption of high sugary foods and beverages. A hierarchical regression analysis suggested that these variables were significantly associated with the overall acceptance of interventions, independently of social-demographic variables (i.e., age, education and sex). Conclusion: By examining how people perceive and accept different interventions targeting the reduction of sugar intake, the current work aims to support policymaking in this domain.

Beyond borders: A cross‐cultural analysis of consumption and purchase behaviour of sweeteners in yoghurts

“…(2018) found that sugar consciousness as measured by the question “How much attention do you pay to the sugar content in your diet?”, was one of the strongest factors that influenced acceptance of government interventions to reduce sugar intake in French‐speaking regions of Switzerland. Similarly, another study conducted in Portugal reported that sugar‐consciousness; as assessed using the same question showed a positive correlation with the acceptance of interventions aimed at reducing the sugar‐intake (Prada et al., 2020). This suggests that individuals who are more aware of their sugar intake are likely to be more motivated to reduce their sugar consumption, thereby displaying greater support for interventions aimed at the same goal.…”

Perceived Associations between Excessive Sugar Intake and Health Conditions

“…Our results must be interpreted with caution, due to the characteristics of our sample. As in other studies conducted with volunteers in the health and nutrition domain [ 22 , 46 ], our sample included a higher proportion of women and individuals with higher education. Another limitation of the current study concerns the rating task, which included a limited list of possible health conditions [ 29 , 30 ] related to excessive sugar intake.…”

“…This study was part of a broader project about eating behavior (for other instruments and results, see [ 22 , 33 ]), and we only focus on the relevant measures for the current paper. All procedures were reviewed and approved by an ethics committee of the Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (approval #22/2019).…”

“…Based on the evidence linking sugar consumption and adverse health outcomes, the WHO [ 2 ] has recommended limiting free-sugars intake to below 10% (ideally below 5%) of the daily total energy intake, which corresponds to 50 g/day for an average adult. Although several countries have implemented a set of strategies and measures to reduce sugar intake (for a review, see [ 22 ]), the available data show that this goal has yet to be met. For example, a recent report [ 23 ] showed that, in Portugal, the mean intake of sugars (mono and disaccharides) is 84 g/day (i.e., 18.5% of the daily total energy intake), whereas the mean intake of free sugars is 35 g/day (i.e., 7.5% of the daily total energy intake).…”