Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption during Covid-19 pandemic among office workers in semi-urban area in southern Thailand: a cross-sectional study

Background: During COVID-19 pandemic, office worker has spent more than 6-8 hours per day sitting for online working following social distancing policy. Considering the popularity of online ordering and home delivery services, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) consumption have increased. However, the link between the types SSB consumption and their BMI was less well documented.

Objective: To determine the association of the habitual intake (type, frequency, and volume) of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) with body mass index (BMI).

Material and methods: A cross-sectional study, 337 office workers were selected according to probability proportionto-size and systematic random sampling. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews on the type, frequency, and volume of sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Samples of sugar-containing beverages were analyzed using high-throughput liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The chi-square test was used to determine the relationship of SSB consumption with BMI. Unadjusted binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the associations between BMI and metabolic diseases.

Results: Most respondents (56.1%) were overweight (BMI >23 kg/m2). The most consumed SSB was milk tea (e.g., Thai tea and green tea), which was significantly related with BMI (p=0.03). LC-MS/MS analysis showed that sucrose and lactose were the major sugars in milk tea (34.7 g/100mL, on average). 70.6% of the respondents consumed >24 g/day of sugar, which is more than the World Health Organization's recommendation.

Conclusions: Health control policies and health education, for example warning labels for the reduction of SSB consumption, may urgently be required to promote health in workplaces and prevent SSB-related metabolic diseases.