Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

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ktomkies
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:41 pm
Occupation: Parent

Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by ktomkies »

Hello,

Recently, I have taken an interest in some of the scientific evidence about the overconsumption of sugar and its impact on health. I would like to design a study/survey to find out how knowledgeable the public is about sugar in their diets. Some factors I would like to investigate include: daily recommended limits for added sugar, food labelling, added sugar versus naturally occurring sugars, how different sugars are processed in the body, 60 + different names for sugar on food labels, and how overconsumption can lead to serious disease. I am writing to you to ask for some help/direction in designing a study to investigate these parameters with some scientific merit. There is a growing body of evidence that links the overconsumption of sugar with some of leading causes of death such as diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and Alzheimer's disease. I would like to investigate the publics understanding/knowledge of added sugar in their food.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Kess
MadelineB
Moderator
Posts: 908
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 4:42 pm
Occupation: Biostatistician/Data Scientist
Project Question: Interested in volunteering as an expert
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by MadelineB »

Hello Kess,

The Science Buddies Ask an Expert Forum is for students in Grades K-12 who are working on science projects.

I suggest that you look on the internet for other forums to get help on the design of your study.

Thank you.
ktomkies
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:41 pm
Occupation: Parent

Re: Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by ktomkies »

Hello again,

Thank you for your reply.

I am a middle school student. I recently watched a documentary called Sugar Coated. I have also been reading a lot about added sugar in our diets. What surprised me was that many people I talked about it with weren't aware of some important facts such as what the daily added sugar limits are. After reading a lot of information about the serious effects of sugar overconsumption and all the efforts to make people aware of these dangers, I wondered if I could do a science project that could measure how much people know. I am not even sure if this is a science project. Our school has science fairs every other year. This year is not a science fair year. Last year I did a fermentation project on kitchen waste and went on to compete at the national science fair. I was thinking about what kind of project I would like to do this year on my own. I did research some websites about how to do a study project but I found the information to be difficult to understand.

Thank you for your time.
jcschrandt
Former Expert
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2016 3:33 pm
Occupation: Other Adult

Re: Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by jcschrandt »

Hi, I think there was some confusion because you're account says you're a parent, rather than a student.

Are you thinking about putting together a survey to determine how much people understand about added sugar? Here's a guide for designing a survey: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... rvey.shtml . Also, depending on what kind of data you're looking to obtain from this study, you should consider who you're target population would be. Do you want to see how much other students your age understand about added sugar? What about a broader general population? The broader the group of people you study, the larger the number of people you need for your results to be statistically significant. I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have more questions!

Best regards,
Jen
ktomkies
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:41 pm
Occupation: Parent

Re: Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by ktomkies »

Hi Jen,

Thank you so much for replying.

Yes, I would like to determine how much people understand about added sugar. I thought it would be the easiest if I did a survey of other students in my school but I am also curious about what the general population knows and maybe what influences how much they know. Some things I would like to find out is how much people understand about: daily added sugar limits, names for added sugar on labels, types of added sugar such as glucose/fructose/sucrose and how our bodies break them down, health risks of over-consumption, what % sugar on food labels means, how much added sugar is in some popular products.I am in the process of doing research and I am trying to figure out my objectives and then come up with questions that will answer my objectives. How many people do you need to make your results statistically significant? Does it depend on how many questions you ask or the range in age of your sample population?

Thank you,
Kess
jcschrandt
Former Expert
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2016 3:33 pm
Occupation: Other Adult

Re: Added Sugar: Measuring our understanding of sugar in our diets and what it means.

Post by jcschrandt »

If you have a very uniform population of people to survey, you would need at least 30 people. By uniform population, I mean something like everyone being 13-year-old females of the same ethnic background and household income level, for example. You would want to increase the population size if you have a broader population. I would guess that if you're surveying the boys and girls in your class, you would need at least 60 participants. But you can get a better idea by running statistics on a small pool of participants (at least 10) and performing a power analysis. This is how scientists determine an appropriate sample size. You would want a power of at least 0.80, and a p-value <0.05. You can google "power analysis calculator" to find a website to perform the statistics for you.

I hope this helps!
Jen
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