Consumption pattern of soft drinks and awareness on traffic light labelling system of prepacked soft drinks among young adults in the Ampara District

Abstract

- The survey was carried out to evaluate the soft drink consumption pattern and the awareness of the traffic light labelling system among the young adults’ consumers in Ampara district. There were 204 young adult consumers used as the sample population. The self administered questionnaire was assessed based on socio-demographics, anthropometric measurements, consumption habits, awareness of traffic light labelling system, and awareness of adverse health effects due to soft drinks consumption. The results revealed that a higher number of consumers (48.53%) were concern about the health and nutritional benefits of soft drinks while purchasing, and 43.63% of the population were consuming soft drinks for leisure purposes. Further, 73.5% of the consumers were consuming fruit juice/drinks frequently, and 26.5% fractions were consuming carbonated beverages. Further, most of the consumers (78.43%) were consuming soft drinks 1-2 times per weekly basis. There were 80.4% of the consumers aware of the traffic light labelling system, and most of them (72%) were purchasing the soft drink based on the sugar level. Hence, 71.5% of the population were consuming medium sugar levels. 81.4% of the population was aware on type 2 diabetes is related to a higher level of sugar. Eventually, most of the consumers considered their health and nutritional aspects during the purchasing by selecting a medium level of sugar and consuming 1-2 times per week. Along with, a larger proportion had aware of the traffic light labelling system for sugar-based soft drinks and were consuming considering the sugar level of soft drinks.