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

Abstract

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. 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. Hospital sites in two conditions (4 with SSB sales bans, 3 without sales bans) in Northern California. 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. 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). SSB sales bans likely reduce SSB consumption through multiple pathways; buffering stress-related consumption may be one mechanism.