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

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 (generalised anxiety disorder-7) and self-reported SSB consumption (fluid ounces/d) before (July 2019) and during (May 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic.

SETTING

Hospital sites in two conditions (four with SSB sales bans and three 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 SSB (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 with those with lower anxiety scores ( = 0·65, < 0·05). When the sample was disaggregated by sales ban condition, this relationship held for participants in the control group (access to SSB at work, = 0·82, < 0·05), but not for those exposed to an SSB sales ban ( = 0·42, = 0·25).

CONCLUSIONS

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