Can public health interventions change immediate and long-term dietary behaviours? Encouraging evidence from a pilot study of the U.K. Change4Life Sugar Swaps campaign

Lamport, D. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4592-0439, Wu, S.-Y., Drever-Heaps, J., Hugueniot, O., Jones, D. J. W., Kennedy, O. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3885-4872, Williams, C. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4452-671X and Butler, L. T. (2021) Can public health interventions change immediate and long-term dietary behaviours? Encouraging evidence from a pilot study of the U.K. Change4Life Sugar Swaps campaign. Nutrients, 14 (1). ISSN 2072-6643 doi: 10.3390/nu14010068

Abstract/Summary

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the U.K. Change4Life Sugar Swaps campaign for improving nutritional intake in a small sample of families prior to the 2015 na-tionwide launch. A total of 49 participants from 14 families received information and materials during a two-week intervention period in November 2014 encouraging them to swap high sugar foods and drinks for low sugar alternatives. Daily dietary intake was reported with online food diaries over four stages, each two weeks in length: (i) baseline (no information provided), (ii) intervention when Sugar Swaps materials were accessible, (iii) immediate follow-up, and (iv) one year on from baseline. Data were analysed for sugar, glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, fat, sat-urated fat, carbohydrate, protein, salt, fibre, vitamin C, and energy. During the intervention, significant daily reductions of 32 g sugar, 11 g fat, and 236 kcal for each family member were observed, among others, and 61% of benefits achieved during the intervention period were maintained at immediate follow-up. Encouragingly, for children, reductions in sugar, sucrose, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, and energy were observed one year on. The Sugar Swaps Campaign is potentially an effective public health intervention for improving short- and long-term dietary behaviour for the whole family.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/102212
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Human Nutrition Research Group Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Nutrition and Health
Publisher	MDPI
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