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Accepted manuscript

Did a workplace sugar-sweetened beverage sales ban reduce anxiety-related SSB consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2024

Laurie M. Jacobs ,
Laura A. Schmidt ,
Dean Schillinger ,
Jamey M. Schmidt ,
Katie E. Alegria ,
Bethany Parrett ,
Amanda Pickett  and
Elissa S. Epel
Laurie M. Jacobs*
Affiliation:
Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California at San Francisco
Laura A. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California at San Francisco Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of California at San Francisco
Dean Schillinger
Affiliation:
Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California at San Francisco UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine @San Francisco General Hospital UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations
Jamey M. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute
Katie E. Alegria
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco Center for Health and Community, University of California at San Francisco
Bethany Parrett
Affiliation:
Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute
Amanda Pickett
Affiliation:
Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute
Elissa S. Epel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco
*
Corresponding author: Laurie M. Jacobs, 490 Illinois Street, Floor 7, San Francisco, CA 94143, 415-476-4921 (ph), laurie.jacobs@ucsf.edu
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Abstract

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Objective:

Workplace sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) sales bans can reduce SSB consumption. Because stress and anxiety can promote sugar consumption, we examined whether anxiety among hospital employees during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changes in SSB consumption and explored whether this relationship varied by exposure to a workplace SSB sales ban.

Design:

In a prospective, controlled trial of workplace SSB sales bans, we examined self-reported anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; GAD-7) and self-reported SSB consumption (fluid ounces/day) before (July 2019) and during (May 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic.

Setting:

Hospital sites in two conditions (4 with SSB sales bans, 3 without sales bans) in Northern California.

Participants:

We sampled 580 participants (hospital employees) from a larger trial of sales bans; all were regular consumers of SSBs (minimum 3/week at main trial enrollment). This subsample was chosen based on having appropriately timed data for our study questions.

Results:

Across conditions, participants reduced SSB consumption over the study period. However, participants with higher pandemic-era anxiety scores experienced smaller reductions in SSB consumption after 9 months compared to those with lower anxiety scores (β = 0.65, p<.05). When the sample was disaggregated by sales ban condition, this relationship held for participants in the control group (access to SSBs at work, β = 0.82, p<.05), but not for those exposed to an SSB sales ban (β = 0.42, p=.25).

Conclusions:

SSB sales bans likely reduce SSB consumption through multiple pathways; buffering stress-related consumption may be one mechanism.

Type
Short Communication
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 14
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Authors 2024