Consumption pattern, Attitudes and Nutrition Knowledge on Soft Drinks Among Belgian Adults

Abstract

Health problems have been increasing as a result of excessive soft drink consumption in western countries. Increased sweet taste preference, advanced technology and reasonably cheap prices of soft drinks are contributing factors for this increased consumption. Yet to our understanding it is not well established what are Belgian adults’ nutrition knowledge and attitude towards soft drink consumption. This study aimed at assessing Belgian consumers’ attitude, consumption pattern and nutrition knowledge on soft drinks. A cross-sectional online survey was carried out among Belgian adults through an existing consumer panel for adults during the period of February to March 2012. A total of 507 subjects aged between 17-85 years were involved in this study. A comprehensive structured questionnaire was developed for data collection. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics (frequency distribution), data reduction (Cronbach’s alpha test, factor analysis), data segmentation (cluster analysis) and bivariate statistics (correlations, chi-square tests, independent t-tests, Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney and one factor ANOVA). Results revealed that, general consumption of soft drinks among Belgian adults was low, on average to around once a week, except some individuals (23%) were found to be heavy consumers of soft drinks. Age, BMI and occupation were found to associate with consumption of soft drinks in this study (P<0.05). Objective nutrition knowledge score was higher in heavy light soft drink consumers and in adults (31-50 years and 17-30 years) (P<0.05). Subjective nutrition knowledge did not associate with many variables. A more positive attitude towards soft drinks consumption was found in heavy users of both light and regular soft drinks, also in obese people and young adults (17-30 years) compared to other groups (all P-values <0.05). Provision of adequate information especially informative policy measures about soft drinks will be useful in raising awareness, changing attitudes and increasing nutrition knowledge of adult’s soft drink consumers.

Key words: Consumption, Attitudes, Nutrition Knowledge, Soft drinks, Users