Knowledge of Sugar in Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in South Africa: A Survey of Postgraduate Students

Abstract

This survey investigated the level of knowledge of sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages by postgraduate students enrolled at the University of Limpopo in the 2019 academic year. A survey questionnaire was sent to three hundred and fifty-nine (359) students as a target population, and two hundred and seventy-eighth (278) questionnaires were returned. The results are based on 77% of the target population. On average, the respondents correctly answered just over half of the items on added sugar in SSBs, with M = 56.02% and SD = 22.03%. There is sufficient evidence to say that the level of knowledge of added sugar between male and female University of Limpopo postgraduate students are different (t (177) = 2.763, p = .011), using the 5% level of significance. Knowledge and awareness of added sugar are not sufficient components to influence the use of nutrition labels. The findings conclude that there is a relationship between gender and knowledge of added sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages and found that no relationship exists between BMI and knowledge of added sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages. There is a need for user-friendly terminology on nutrition labels.