Healthy Drinks, Healthy Teeth – Ciunerkaq Tanqigtuq (The Future is Bright): A study protocol for a community-based, non-randomized sociobehavioral trial to reduce added sugar intake in Alaska Native Yup'ik children in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

Background

This study protocol describes a community-based intervention that will seek to reduce added sugar intake in Yup'ik Alaska Native children by targeting reductions in sugar-sweetened fruit drinks.

Methods

A two-group non-randomized design will be used to evaluate the intervention in three Yup'ik communities in Alaska focusing on children age 1 to less than age 12 years with a minimum enrollment target of 192 children. Families in the intervention arm will participate in a program consisting of five sessions plus four brief check-ins, all delivered by a Yup'ik Community Health Worker. Modifications to the local store environment will be made to give families a place to purchase sugar-free water enhancers. Families in the delayed treatment control arm will receive no intervention during the main study period. There will be five data collection visits (baseline, 1-month, 3-months, 6-months, and 12-months) that will include collection of survey and dietary data, and a hair and plaque sample from each participating child. The outcomes will be change, from baseline to 6 months, in added sugar intake based on a validated hair biomarker (grams of added sugar/day). We hypothesize children in the intervention arm will have greater reductions in added sugar intake compared to children in the control arm as measured by the hair biomarker.

Discussion

This is one of the first known community-based sociobehavioral interventions aimed specifically at reducing added sugar intake in Alaska Native communities by targeting sugar-sweetened fruit drinks.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05219448 (first posted on February 2, 2022).