Soft Drinks and Health - Literature review Example

Soft Drinks and Health Name Course Lecturer Date Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of soft drinks on students’ health. The study derives its information from literature review on specific secondary sources that are interrelated with the study topic. The study methodology involves an interview schedule conducted in both Adelaide and Flinders University. The subjects of the study in all include 4 participants, 2 from Adelaide and 2 from Flinders University aged 31-36 years. The results show that continuous intake of soft drinks has adverse effects in the short and long run. Obesity, overweight was direct outcomes where secondary complications like ulcers, diabetes, high-blood pressure dental enamel erosion results. Cognitive and behavioral theories inform the reasons behind consumption patterns and popularity which in this case are related to advertising, peer pressure as well as popular culture. In addition, the study concluded that soft drinks had direct and indirect negative impacts to students’ health due to sugars, acids and artificial ingredients. Various recommendations are highlighted at the end a consideration and direction for more research on the same topic in future. The Literature Review The secondary data behind the study; impact of excessive soft drink consumption on student's health, informed this discussion. James et al. (2004) study was an attempt to prevent childhood obesity through reduction in the rate of consumption of carbonated drinks. It concluded that, the school based education program was confirmed as a modest mode to reduce carbonated drinks consumption which consequently reduces the number of obese and overweight children. Sichieri et al. (2009) study was set to prevent excessive weight gain when students are discouraged from taking sodas. The study concluded that decreased intake of sugar-sweetened beverages significantly reduced BMI for overweight children, particularly among girls. Wiecha et al. (2006) study attempted to examine the association between the use of school fast-food restaurants and vending machine and the youth intake of the sugar-sweetened beverages. The use in both cases was associated with the overall intake of sugar sweetened as most students 66% reported taking them. To reduce the dietary sugars, the study recommended change of products availability. Gueronniere & Fantino (2004) study investigated the influence of ingested beverages with intense sweeteners or sucrose on food intake. The study confirmed that ingestion of caloric beverages promoted positive energy balance where continuous intake did not improve food intake due to adaptation response to extra energy provided by beverages. Finally, Ebbeling et al. (2006) study, examined the effects of reducing sugar-sweetened beverages consumption on the body weight. The group that relied on non-caloric beverages benefited from reduced body weight than those who continued to take sugar-sweetened beverages. The results of the above studies indicated positive outcomes when sugar-sweetened beverages consumption reduced in all groups. The results are useful to inform a further and interrelated study on excessive soft drink consumption and its effects on student's health. The primary research will attempt to look at health impacts from various soft drinks that are commonly used by students. According to Andersen & Chen (2002), cognitive and behavioral theories are pertinently used to focus of the study. Cognitive theory is used to explain the behaviors through the thought processes. This is because; consumption of soft drinks in modern times has much to do with thought processes. Montano & Kasprzyk (2008) points out that, behavioral theory emphasizes on how learning and facts that develop from various authorities are taken to guide behavior. It will inform the discussion on the causes or the driving force to soft drinks consumption. The Method Section The primary data collection included four students participants aged between 31-36 years. The students were approached first to confirm that they were regular consumers of soft drinks and had wide information about other students who were also consuming such drinks. The participants were divided by 50-50 for both Flinders and Adelaide to have a generalizable data on students’ consumptions and viewpoints. Participants’ information: ID Participant Name Age Place Interview No. 1 Hamza Al zahrani 32 Flinders university 1 2 Ibrahim Al zahrani 31 Flinders University 2 3 Naif AL ahmdi 36 Adelaide 3 4 MusaaedAlshomrani 33 Adelaide 4 The research conducted on this topic was qualitative in nature with an aim of understanding the impacts of soft drinks intake to students’ health. The research got viewpoints from ideal students in the university. The study was based on social phenomena in natural and current setting that allowed collection of qualitative data. Robson (2011) points out that, social issue study in a social setting or context facilitates a clear understanding of various opinions, thoughts, perceptions and feelings and thus the study is consequently qualified as qualitative. The study used the open ended questions through an interview that gave participants an opportunity to respond to the questions from a personal standpoint which also limited researcher biased assertions (Salomon & Cairns (2011). Cohen & Crabtree (2006) argues that, data collection approach took a semi structured interview. Since the number of respondents was small, interview mode of data collection was thus used as there was more time to do so with a small and objective sample. Single data collection method was used to give the study deeper understanding. Each student was interviewed separately to avoid group influences in responses (Rabiee, 2004). The students were interviewed after they completed a consent form which indicated the purpose of research, what the results would be done, confidentiality and a right to withdraw (Corbin & Morse, 2003). Qualitative questions There were 9 questions on an interview paper that were orally conducted and recorded. 1. How often do you consume soft drinks? 2. What is your opinion of diet drinks? 3. Why do you think soft drinks are so popular? 4. Do you think soft drinks are a healthy choice? 5. What do you think of the choice of soft drinks on the market? 6. What do you think are some health impacts of soft drink consumption? 7. What is your favourite soft drink? 8. Do you think soft drinks can cause dental erosion? 9. What is your impression of soft drink consumption? In collecting information, the questions had gone pretesting to ensure they would measure exactly what was needed (de Leeuw, Borgers & Smits, 2004). The interviewer sought clarity for unclear responses and the interview was recorded with an Mp3 recorder for later clarity and listening. The collected data underwent a confirmatory approach. Clear hypothesis for the study was tested. Results The study explored the impacts of soft drinks to students’ health. Overall, the research was set to provide a real-life experience and wide-range perceptions of soft drinks consumption and its effects. Consequently, this research has answered four main questions which are in line with study objectives: Reasons for popularity Precisely, the four participants respond and indicated soft drinks popularity among students to be caused by appealing taste and flavours, young or popular culture and peer pressure, television advertising and being taken as the easy option. In almost all cases, respondents said “thought that advertising was a main cause for soft drink popularity”. Popular culture that is promoted by media and reference groups such as peer pressure among students promote most students to consider soft drinks to be part of the general culture as well as to identify with others. Viewpoint on diet drinks Diet drinks were considered healthier compared to soft drinks. Some of the identified reasons for unhealthy nature of soft drinks were artificial ingredients that negatively affect health and caffeine dependency which caused more consumption and addiction. Respondent though that “diet drinks aided in weight loss and thus choosing diet drink was seen as a better option”. “Soft drink consumption has overall been considered unhealthy”. The general viewpoint was that diet drinks contained less calories but not very healthy. “Artificial ingredients and calories for non diet drinks contribute to weight gain” but most people may not prefer diet drinks as artificial sweetness may not be suitable for all consumers. Acknowledgement of health impacts All the participants highlighted obesity to be a major health issue. Calories contribute to weight gain which further may be attributed to increasing rates of diabetes among the students. Erosion of the dental enamel and loss of appetite were other possibilities. One respondent acknowledge that “overweight may result due to too much sugar”. High blood pressure patients may be affected by sodium in various drinks. Dental erosion was attributed to acids, particularly carbonated drinks that react badly with teeth enamel. “I think some stomach ulcers due to acidic effects and loss of appetite as well as addictive nature that might hinder the efforts to stop. Precisely, the opinions and feelings were that the soft drinks had wide range negative impacts to health for those having some health issues as well as for the healthy. Long-term intakes had firstly to do with obese and overweight, blood pressure, ulcers, and dental enamel erosion. Market choices Participants identified a lot of market choices in soft drinks. The general feeling was carbonated drinks and particularly from Coke Company are widely distributed and on demand in most cases. “Available of options was however not necessarily considered healthy”. Nevertheless, the options allowed people to choose their taste according to personal lifestyle choices. One participant identified marketers and suppliers to have marketing tactics which emphasizes on the students and general youth. Differentiated flavours, colours and wide varieties were considered important in the market (Mosher & Johnsson, 2005). The Discussion Section Excessive consumption of soft drinks has negative impact on student’s health. The most common and prevalent is overweight and obesity which result from excessive and continuous intake of calories. Obesity is a factor which is identified with diabetes and high blood pressure which means that students are prone to such diseases and accelerate complications for those with health problems. Loss of appetite, addiction due to caffeine, artificial ingredients, acids and sugars were considered to cause ulcers, enamel erosion and poor health (May & Waterhouse, 2003). According to cognitive and behavioural theories, perceptions, actions and behaviour results from the though process, interpretations and formation of behaviour. There are forces which initiate though processes and actions which in this case are attributed to advertising and media, popular culture or easier options. These are among the most effective factors that shape soft drinks consumption among the students. They act as authorities, reference points that promote and sustain consumption behaviour patterns (Howard & Marczinski, 2010; May, Andrade, Panabokke & Kavanagh, 2004). The study results from secondary data indicated the negative effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on health. It was confirmed that obesity and overweight was common in all the cases. However, the study indicated reduced obesity and weight loss for a group that was contained from intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. Soft drinks have also been confirmed through this study to have similar effects in obesity and overweight and more negative impacts that conclude on rising incidences of ulcers, diabetes, high-blood pressure, dental enamel erosion and others on students (Reissig, Strain & Griffiths, 2009). The strengths that the study had resulted from the fact that there were wide-range data from various studies that have been carried in more or less similar environments about beverages and soft drinks. This helped to advance the study towards immediate and long-term health impacts as was seen in the study. However, the research period was limited and thus a vast sample was impossible. Despite the limitation, researcher ensured that specific information was given to participants to grasp and respond appropriately. In conclusion, there is a strong evidence of negative health effects to students due to intake of soft drinks. The rampant consumption is identified with perceptions and behavioural patterns that develop due to media, culture and peer pressure. There are some recommendations which are important for a future research. This will promote considerations and direct researchers: Students should share ideas about the negative health impacts and promote behaviours amongst themselves for healthy lifestyles. Every institution should assume responsibilities of control and raising the necessary awareness of the impacts of soft drinks consumptions to its subjects. There should be increased initiatives and funding for students to research and experience about soft drinks impacts. Government efforts should be part and parcel of soft drinks control due to indirect implication they have on health and social institution. References Andersen, S. M., & Chen, S. (2002). The relational self: An interpersonal social-cognitive theory. Psychological review, 109(4), 619-644. Cohen, D., & Crabtree, B. (2006). Qualitative research guidelines project. Robert Wood Jonhson Foundation. Corbin, J., & Morse, J. M. (2003). The unstructured interactive interview: Issues of reciprocity and risks when dealing with sensitive topics. Qualitative inquiry, 9(3), 335-354. de Leeuw, E. D., Borgers, N., & Smits, A. (2004). Pretesting questionnaires for children and adolescents. Ebbeling, C. B., et al. (2006). Effects of decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption on body weight in adolescents: a randomized, controlled pilot study. Pediatrics, 117(3), 673-680. Howard, M. A., & Marczinski, C. A. (2010). Acute effects of a glucose energy drink on behavioral control. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 18(6), 553. James, J., et al. (2004). Preventing childhood obesity by reducing consumption of carbonated drinks: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 328(7450), 1237. May, J., & Waterhouse, P. J. (2003). Dental erosion and soft drinks: a qualitative assessment of knowledge, attitude and behaviour using focus groups of schoolchildren. A preliminary study. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, 13(6), 425-433. May, J., Andrade, J., Panabokke, N., & Kavanagh, D. (2004). Images of desire: Cognitive models of craving. Memory, 12(4), 447-461. Montano, D. E., & Kasprzyk, D. (2008). Theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the integrated behavioral model. Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice, 4, 67-95. Mosher, J. F., & Johnsson, D. (2005). Flavored alcoholic beverages: An international marketing campaign that targets youth. Journal of Public Health Policy, 326-342. Rabiee, F. (2004). Focus-group interview and data analysis. Proceedings of the nutrition society, 63(4), 655. Reissig, C. J., Strain, E. C., & Griffiths, R. R. (2009). Caffeinated energy drinks—a growing problem. Drug and alcohol dependence, 99(1), 1-10. Robson, C. (2011). Real world research: a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings. Chichester: Wiley. Salomon, G., & Cairns, E. (2011). Open-Ended Questions. Handbook on Peace Education, 315. Sichieri, R., et al. (2009). School randomised trial on prevention of excessive weight gain by discouraging students from drinking sodas. Public health nutrition, 12(2), 197. Van Wymelbeke, V., et al. (2004). Influence of repeated consumption of beverages containing sucrose or intense sweeteners on food intake. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 58(1), 154-161. Wiecha, J. L., et al. (2006). School vending machine use and fast-food restaurant use are associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake in youth. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106(10), 1624-1630. Read More