Deakin University HBS108 Assignment 1: Sugar Sweetened Drinks Analysis

This assignment, completed for the HBS108 Health Sciences course, analyzes sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption data and research findings, focusing on adolescents. The student sourced data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and peer-reviewed academic journals. The assignment explores the consumption patterns of sweetened drinks among different demographics, including gender and age groups, highlighting trends and potential health implications. The student examines both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, discussing factors influencing consumption behavior, such as parental practices, taste, advertising, and accessibility. The assignment also delves into the impact of SSB consumption on health outcomes like BMI, obesity and diabetes, and proposes interventions, including nutrition programs and mass education campaigns, to promote healthier drinking habits. The student demonstrates the ability to locate and evaluate health-related information, and to use referencing correctly.

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HBS108 Assignment Task 1: Sourcing, Identifying and Evaluating Evidence
Student name
Student Id
Table of Contents
Answer 1....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3....................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4....................................................................................................................................4
Answer 5....................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Answer 1
i. The National Health Survey (NHS) recruited a sample that comprised of an estimated
21,300 individuals who were selected across 16,400 private dwellings present in
Australia. Two groups that were excluded from the sample were namely, discrete
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and ‘very remote’ regions of Australia (ABS
2018).
ii. Data collection for children aged less than 15 years involved conducting an interview
of an adult who had been nominated by the household for all child.
iii. Gathering information from then nominated adults might have prevented taking into
account important data based on the perspectives of the children, thus reducing
representativeness of the survey results (ABS 2018).
iv. They defined sugar sweetened drinks as those that included cordials, sports drinks,
soft drink, and/or caffeinated energy drinks. They also considered ready to drink
beverages that contained alcohol as a sugar sweetened drink.
v. They excluded all forms of flavoured milk, fruit juice, coffee, sugar free drinks, and
hot tea from the group. This would give rise to under-representativeness of the survey
results since coffee, tea and fruit juice contain considerable amount of sugar, which if
consumed for long time period, would increase the incidence of diabetes and chronic
disease in the target population (ABS 2018).
Answer 2
i. It was found that 31.4% males did not consume selected sugar sweetened drinks per
week, which was much lesser than 54.6% of their female counterparts. This suggested
that female adolescents were able to refrain themselves more from consumption of

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sweetened beverages. Sweetened drinks were consumed for 1-3 days more among
males (43.9%), in contrast to females (32.5%) (ABS 2018).
ii. An increasing trend with age is observed among females, in relation to their daily
consumption of sweetened drinks with 5.3% in 2-3 years, 5.3% in 9-11 years, and
7.1% in 14-17 years. However, the increasing trend is more significant among males
for daily sweetened beverage consumption. While 5.1% males aged 2-3 years
consumed these drinks, 11.8% and 15.9% males aged 12-13 years and 14-17 years,
respectively did the same, thus showing an increased tendency among males (ABS
2018).
iii. As discussed in the previous answer, the change is not much significant in females
and is primarily accounted for by males.
iv. Boys show an increased likelihood of drinking beverages. Only a handful of them are
able to resist consumption of these drinks. Furthermore, sweetened drinks are
generally consumed maximum for 1-3 days among both boys and girls. An increase in
age also makes the boys develop more inclination of consuming the drinks on a
regular basis, thus increasing their chances of suffering from chronic health
abnormalities in the long run.
Answer 3
i. The research is a qualitative study. Some of the characteristics that help in
categorising this study as a qualitative investigation are namely, (i) naturalistic
research, (ii) purposeful sampling, (iii) focus group data collection, (iv) immersion-
crystallisation approach (Marshall and Rossman 2014).
ii. No. Lack of awareness on health impacts cannot be cited as the primary reason for
increased sweetened drink consumption behaviour. This can be accredited to the fact

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that participants had adequate knowledge and awareness of the health effects of
beverages (Battram et al. 2016).
iii. The consumption behaviour was largely governed by parental practice, taste effect,
advertising, and accessibility.
iv. Information on conflict of interest is essential since it helps in gaining an insight
regarding presence of any obligations or financial interest of the researchers, which
might have been responsible for bias in the study findings.
Answer 4
i. The research is a quantitative cross-sectional study because (i) use of a structured data
collection tool, (ii) large sample, (iii) research can be easily replicated, (iv) numerical
and/or statistical data (Bryman 2017).
ii. The findings suggested that knowledge of sweetened beverage drinks is not a
significant factor to influence the behaviour among adolescents. Adolescent
sweetened beverage consumption for at least once a day was not related with
adolescent or parent knowledge of the potential health risks (Lundeen et al. 2018).
iii. One common theme between the two articles was the parental intake.
iv. Owing to the fact that increased consumption of sweetened sugar beverages increases
risks of obesity, diabetes and other health co-morbidities among individuals, efforts
will be taken to launch a nutrition program that will increase exposure of children and
adolescents to healthy drinking options (Zheng et al. 2015). Mass education
campaigns and advertising will also be done to influence the decision of parents that
will directly create an impact on their children eating habits (Todd & Ver Ploeg
2014).

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Answer 5
i. Daily sweetened beverage consumption by adolescents increases their body weight
and affects their BMI. Data collection will involve survey, followed by descriptive
statistics.
ii. Good taste increases sweetened beverage consumption among adolescents. Focus
group will serve as data collection method.
iii. The quantitative hypothesis was selected, following which the library website was
searched for extracting articles that were relevant to the research question.

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Figure 1- Abstract of the selected article
iv. The database used for searching articles that were congruent to the quantitative
research hypothesis was CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health
Literature).
v. The search terms used for article extraction were namely, “sweetened sugar
beverage”, “SSB”, “consumption”, “drink”, “weight”, “BMI”, “obesity”,
“adolescents”, “young adults”, and “health”.
vi. Marshall, T.A., Van Buren, J.M., Warren, J.J., Cavanaugh, J.E. and Levy, S.M., 2017.
Beverage Consumption Patterns at Age 13 to 17 Years Are Associated with Weight,
Height, and Body Mass Index at Age 17 Years. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics, 117(5), pp.698-706.

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References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, National Health Survey, First results, 2017–18. Cat No.
4364.0.55.001, retrieved 29 March 2019,
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4364.0.55.001Main+Features1000120
17-18?OpenDocument
Battram, DS, Piché, L, Beynon, C, Kurtz, J & He, M 2016, ‘Sugar-Sweetened Beverages:
Children’s Perceptions, Factors of Influence, and Suggestions for Reducing Intake’, Journal
of Nutrition Education and Behavior, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 27–34.
Bryman, A., 2017, Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their
integration, In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78), Routledge.
Lundeen, EA, Park, S, Onufrak, S, Cunningham, S & Blanck, HM 2018, ‘Adolescent Sugar-
Sweetened Beverage Intake is Associated with Parent Intake, Not Knowledge of Health
Risks’, American Journal of Health Promotion, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 1661–1670.
Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B., 2014, Designing qualitative research, Sage publications.
Marshall, T.A., Van Buren, J.M., Warren, J.J., Cavanaugh, J.E. & Levy, S.M., 2017,
‘Beverage Consumption Patterns at Age 13 to 17 Years Are Associated with Weight, Height,
and Body Mass Index at Age 17 Years;, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics, vol.117, no.5, pp.698-706.
Todd, J.E. & Ver Ploeg, M., 2014, ‘Caloric beverage intake among adult supplemental
nutrition assistance program participants’, American journal of public health, vol.104, no.9,
pp.e80-e85.

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Zheng, M., Allman-Farinelli, M., Heitmann, B.L. & Rangan, A., 2015, ‘Substitution of sugar-
sweetened beverages with other beverage alternatives: a review of long-term health
outcomes’, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vol.115, no.5, pp.767-779.