**18. Discussions**

### **18.1 Level of knowledge of sugar in SSBs, and food and nutrition labelling**

More than fifty percent of the students were knowledgeable about the sugar contents of the SSBs. Females were more knowledgeable about the sugar contents of SSBs than their male counterparts. The difference in the knowledge of added sugar

*Knowledge of Sugar in Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in South Africa: A Survey of Postgraduate… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106904*

was significant between the two genders and therefore, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a relationship between gender and knowledge. Furthermore, the relationship between BMI and knowledge did not yield a positive result.

Just over eighty per cent of the respondents displayed knowledge of the effects of added sugar consumption on health. This supports the findings of Finkelstein et al., [6] that there is awareness among consumers that excessive consumption of sugar contributes to the risk of non-communicable diseases. However, the awareness of the risk factors of excessive consumption of sugar and knowledge of consumers of the sugar contents in food products does not necessarily translate into consumption behaviour change.

#### **18.2 Level of knowledge and understanding of the nutrition labelling**

Tierney et al., [24] reported that the technical language used on nutrition labels tends to be a barrier to serving its primary objective of ensuring that consumers know the nutrition contents of food products they purchase and then make informed consumer choices. This study tested this finding by using a picture of a Coca-Cola 330 ml can and asked questions regarding its nutrition label. The per cent of those respondents who could comprehend with this technical language used on the nutrition label ranged from forty-one to fifty-six.

Given that this study targeted Postgraduate students who do not necessarily represent the average South African, and still scored lower than 60%, as they could not interpret terminologies such as sodium, kilojoule and a number of grams of sugar, and what these mean in terms of the number of teaspoons of sugar or salt, these findings confirm that the terminology used on nutrition labels pose a challenge to consumers.

#### **18.3 The use of nutrition labels on SSBs**

The number of respondents who reported looking at the nutrition label before they purchase food products is lower (i.e., 41%) than the mean value, that is, M = 56.02% of the respondents knowledgeable about sugar in SSBs. Although this fact has not been fully established in this study, the respondents' knowledge of the sugar content in food products and consumers' understanding of nutrition labels alone seems not to be sufficient factors to influence the purchasing behaviour of consumers. Heike and Taylor [5] reported that social factors such as an individual's background, beliefs, values and opinions about what is important and not, play a very critical role in the consumers' behaviour. Therefore, nutrition literacy interventions should consider behaviour change as a key component of these interventions to influence consumer purchasing behaviour since knowledge alone is insufficient.
