Impacts of Sugar Warnings on Weight Bias

NCT07346001 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 24-0901b
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 543
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to examine the effects of added sugar warning labels for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on explicit weight bias and body weight attributional judgements. Participants will be assigned to view either control labels or added sugar warning labels applied on SSBs in an experimental store. Participants will shop for beverages in the store and take a computer survey during four visits to the store, spaced approximately one week apart.

Conditions

Nutrition; Diet Interventions

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Explicit weight bias, mean score

  Explicit weight bias will be measured by survey through seven items. Items will present participants with pairs of antonyms and ask that they select the box between antonyms that they feel best describes their feelings and beliefs about people with obesity: (1) lazy - hard-working, (2) no will power - has will power, (3) good self - control - poor self-control, (4) active - inactive, (5) self-indulgent - self-sacrificing, (6) dislikes food - likes food, (7) undereats - overeats. Response options, which will be presented as 5 boxes between antonyms, will be coded in a categorical 1-5 range, where higher scores represent higher endorsement of a stereotype that contributes to weight bias. Each participant's responses to each item will then be averaged across the seven items to obtain their final score on the outcome in a 1-5 range, where higher scores represent higher explicit weight bias.

  Assessed via survey after exposure to intervention (i.e., shopping task) 2 times approximately 4 weeks apart (i.e., in visits 1 and 4)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Body weight attributional judgements, mean score

  Assessed via survey after exposure to intervention (i.e., shopping task) 2 times approximately 4 weeks apart (i.e., in visits 1 and 4).

Study Arms (2)

Control label

OTHER

Behavioral: Control label

Added sugar warning

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Added sugar warning

Interventions

Control label BEHAVIORAL

The control label will display a neutral, square-shaped barcode. Labels will be placed on the front of SSB containers in the experimental store.

Control label

Added sugar warning BEHAVIORAL

The added sugar warning will be octagon-shaped and will state "HIGH IN ADDED SUGAR." Warnings will be placed on the front of SSB containers in the experimental store.

Added sugar warning

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• years and older
• Bought sugary drinks from a store at least once during the past week
• Willing to attend 4 in-person study appointments

You may not qualify if:

• Living in the same household as someone else in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: lead

Study Sites (1)

UNC MiniMart Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27514, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Aline D'Angelo Campos, PhD, MPP

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Aline D'Angelo Campos, PhD, MPP

CONTACT

9199663215; adangelo-campos@unc.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 6, 2026
• First Posted: January 16, 2026
• Study Start: February 16, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Last Updated: April 16, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: The Study Protocol and statistical analysis plan will be available by February 2026 (prior to data collection). A de-identified version of the data collected and analytic code used will become available after data collection and analysis and will remain available indefinitely.
• Access Criteria: Open access.

Locations

US (1)