Sugar Habit Hacker: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial of Personalised Normative Feedback to Change Sugar Consumption
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Authors
Bijker, Rimke
Khullar, Hiranya
Te Ao, Braden
Rodda, Simone
Supervisor
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Journal Article
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SAGE Publications
Abstract
Background: Excessive sugar consumption is a major public health concern, yet effective, scalable interventions remain limited. Aim: To explore the effects of a brief online intervention of personalised normative feedback (PNF) on sugar consumption, mental well-being, craving, and self-efficacy at one and two months in New Zealanders. Methods: Random assignment was to PNF on sugar consumption with feedback on mental wellbeing, craving, and self-efficacy scores, and information on strategies for change or a personalised summary of total sugar consumption and scores on measures. The main outcome was change in sugar intake from baseline, assessed using a self-reported Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Secondary outcomes were change in craving strength, craving frequency, self-efficacy and mental well-being. Results: A total of 605 participants were recruited over a four-week period. Most participants were female (86%), aged >45 years (56%), and consumed sugar within the recommended 10% daily energy intake limit (72%). Sugar consumption reduced by 10.2% at one-month post-intervention (Cohen's d = −0.27; 95% CI [−0.43, −0.11]), and this change was maintained at two months. Improvements were found for all secondary outcomes except mental well-being. There were, however, no significant group-by-time interactions for sugar intake or other outcomes. Conclusion: PNF shows promise in improving sugar consumption, but outcomes were similar to offering a personalised summary of scores alone. Given rapid recruitment and strong retention, future research should compare these conditions with a true control group that provides no feedback. Further work should also examine the reliability and validity of the FFQ for measuring sugar consumption.Description
Keywords
Personalised normative feedback, dietary intervention, digital health intervention, free sugar intake, randomised controlled trial, 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 3210 Nutrition and Dietetics, Health Disparities and Racial or Ethnic Minority Health Research, Prevention, Behavioral and Social Science, Health Disparities, Clinical Research, Clinical Trials and Supportive Activities, 3.1 Primary prevention interventions to modify behaviours or promote wellbeing, Oral and gastrointestinal, Stroke, 3 Good Health and Well Being
Source
Nutrition and Health, ISSN: 0260-1060 (Print); 2047-945X (Online), SAGE Publications, 2601060261450642-. doi: 10.1177/02601060261450642
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© The Author(s) 2026. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).