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Completed

NCT Number: NCT07027865

Sip and Snack Better (SSB) Study: Improving Added Sugar in Adolescents

Teens consume more added sugar than any other age group. Too much added sugar is associated with poor diet quality, obesity risk, and negative cardiometabolic outcomes. Behavioral interventions to improve dietary intake are needed, but are currently lacking for this age group. This study aims to test how feasible, acceptable, and effective a 12-week contextually-tailored health coaching program, called Sip & Snack Better (SSB), is in reducing added sugar in teens, compared to a technology-only comparison. It will provide important information on how to improve dietary intake and reduce added sugar in teens. Additionally, measuring diet is very challenging in teens, so this study will also test the use of an objective biomarker (called the carbon isotope ratio (CIR)) as a measure of added sugar intake before, during, and after the 12-week study.

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Key information

Conditions

Dietary Habits Behavior Behavior, Animal Diet, Healthy Feeding Behavior

Age range

12 year–16 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Center for Obesity Research and Education

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19140, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Parent is 18 years or older, and the legal guardian of the adolescent
  • Adolescent is between the ages of 12 and 16 years
  • Parents and adolescents have the ability to read, write, and understand English
  • Adolescents have a cell phone and are willing to use it to receive text messages and answer survey questions
  • Parents and adolescents live in the Philadelphia region and can attend in-person visits at the research center in North Philadelphia
  • Parents and adolescents can access video communication platforms (i.e., Zoom) via phone or computer
  • Parents and adolescents are willing to be randomized to either treatment condition
  • Adolescents exceed daily recommendations for added sugar intake (as assessed by dietary screener)

Exclusion criteria

  • Adolescent has a medical condition that influences weight status or added sugar intake (e.g., Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes)
  • Adolescent has a psychological or psychiatric condition that prevents study participation without individualized support (e.g., autism spectrum disorder)
  • Adolescent has been diagnosed with or has received/is receiving treatment for an eating disorder
  • Adolescent has been diagnosed with or has received/is receiving treatment for depression
  • Adolescent has dietary restrictions, dietary prescriptions, or dietary goals given by a health care provider that would influence weight or added sugar intake

Treatment and study plan

Sip & Snack Better (SSB) Intervention

Behavioral

Participants (teens 12-16 years) and their parent or legal guardian will participate in a 12-week health coaching intervention to reduce added sugar intake. Parents and teens will participate in 6 health coaching sessions (in weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12; 30-45 minutes, online via Zoom). Teens will participate in four in-person groups sessions (in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8) and receive text-messages to reinforce intervention content.

Sip & Snack Better (SSB) Tech-Only Comparison

Other

Participants (teens 12-16 years) and their parent or legal guardian will participate in a 12-week technology-only comparison arm. Parents and teens will receive information about added sugar intake and healthy eating once via email or text message (based on preference) in weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12. Teens will receive informational text messages 3 times per week .

Primary outcomes

  1. Changes in Added Sugar Intake

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Change in added sugar intake will be assessed using the carbon isotope ratio (CIR) as a objective measure of added sugar intake via breath, blood, and hair samples taken at baseline and post-intervention. Intent-to-treat analyses will be conducted using linear regression models to examine changes in CIR between intervention and control participants. A lower (i.e., more negative) CIR value indicates lower added sugar intake.

  2. Intervention Feasibility

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Feasibility will be assessed by session attendance (>75%) and retention (>80%) over the 12-week study.

  3. Intervention Acceptability

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Participants will report acceptability (>80% rating of 4 or 5 on Likert scale questions) on a post-intervention acceptability questionnaire

Secondary outcomes

  1. Changes in Diet Quality

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Changes in diet quality will be assessed via Healthy Eating Index (HEI) derived from three 24-hour dietary recalls at baseline and post-intervention. HEI is scored on a scale from 0 to 100 with higher scores indicating higher diet quality.

Other outcomes

  1. Feasibility of Breath CIR

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Feasibility of breath CIR to capture intervention adherence will be assessed via completion rates of breath samples (>80%). The sampling protocol collects three breath samples on five random sampling days at baseline and in weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12 (15 total breath samples over 12-weeks).

  2. Predictive Accuracy of the Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) as an indicator of Added Sugar and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Intake

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Area under the curve (AUC) models will be used to determine how well each CIR sample type (blood, breath, hair, nails) captured changes in added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverage intake (derived from 24-hour dietary recalls). AUC ranges from 0 -1 and a higher AUC indicates better model fit.

  3. CIR Biomarker Acceptability

    Time frame: Baseline to 12-weeks

    Participants will report on a scale of 1-5 how anxious or stressed they are before the collection (1= Very stressed or anxious, 5= Not at all stressed or anxious). After collection, participants will report on a scale of 1-5 how comfortable they felt during the collection (1= very uncomfortable, 5= very comfortable) and how difficult or burdensome they found the collection method (1=very difficult or very burdensome, 5=not at all difficult or burdensome). After all data are collected participants will rank the collection methods in order of preference (1= top choice, 4= last choice) and report (yes/no) if they would be willing to provide each type again in a subsequent study (breath, blood, hair, nail).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Temple University

Other

Collaborators

  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Registry information

Official study title

Targeting Added Sugar to Improve Dietary Intake in High-risk Adolescents

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Jun 19, 2025
Registry last updated
May 5, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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