Changes in the Healthy Beverage Index in Response to an Intervention Targeting a Reduction in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption as Compared to an Intervention Targeting Improvements in Physical Activity: Results from the Talking Health Trial.

Valisa E Hedrick,Brenda M Davy,Emily A Myers,Wen You,Jamie M Zoellner

doi:10.3390/nu7125525

Abstract

The recently developed Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) was designed to evaluate overall beverage intake quality (including total fluid consumption and beverage calories), yet no known intervention studies have assessed longitudinal changes to the HBI. The objective of this investigation was to assess changes in HBI scores in response to a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction trial as compared to a physical activity comparison group. Participants were enrolled into a six-month, community-based, controlled behavioral trial and randomized into either a SSB reduction group (SIPsmartER) or a physical activity group (MoveMore). Correlations and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression with intention-to-treat analyses are presented. Total HBI score significantly increased for SIPsmartER (n = 149) (mean increase = 7.5 points (5.4, 9.7), p ≤ 0.001) and MoveMore (n = 143) (mean increase = 3.4 points (1.6, 5.2), p ≤ 0.001) participants, with a significant between group effect (p ≤ 0.05), over the six-month intervention. Other significant changes in HBI components for SIPsmartER included increased SSB and total beverage calorie scores, and decreased low-fat milk and diet soda scores. Changes in total HBI scores were significantly correlated with changes in total Healthy Eating Index-2010 scores (r = 0.15, p ≤ 0.01). Our findings suggest that individual HBI component scores, beyond the SSB component, are influenced by intervention strategies that primarily focus on SSB reduction.

Highlights

Extensive research has investigated changes in beverage consumption, especially sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) [1,2], due to the health consequences associated with excessive intake, obesity [3,4,5], diabetes [4,6,7,8], and cardiovascular disease [5]
SIPsmartER group demonstrated by the main trial [19], for the present analysis we hypothesized that the stated Healthy Beverage 2010 SSB (Index) (HBI) component scores would significantly improve for SIPsmartER participants, and minimal to no changes would be noted for the MoveMore group
Our findings suggest that individual HBI component scores, beyond the SSB component, are influenced by reducing SSB consumption

Summary

Introduction

Extensive research has investigated changes in beverage consumption, especially sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) [1,2], due to the health consequences associated with excessive intake, obesity [3,4,5], diabetes [4,6,7,8], and cardiovascular disease [5]. The HEI-2010 is not without limitations, especially when attempting to assess beverage intake quality, as it does not take into account the consumption of water, unsweetened tea and coffee, and diet beverages, nor total beverage energy, or total fluid needs. 100% fruit juice is included in the total fruit category, and all dairy products (whole and low/fat-free) are grouped in the same category (milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc.). These limitations inhibit the ability of the HEI-2010 to assess beverage intake quality, and its relation to overall dietary quality and health

Methods

Results

Conclusion