(Vienna, 07 December 2017) Eva Winzer from the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Center for Public Health was presented with the Diabetes Forum Prize 2017 at the 45th Annual Conference of the Austrian Diabetes Society (ÖDG).
Eva Winzer accepted the Diabetes Forum Prize 2017 on behalf of her colleagues as well. The work entitled "Reducing sugar consumption via a school nutritional awareness programme" was produced in collaboration with SIPCAN (Special Institute for Preventive Cardiology And Nutrition, Salzburg) and the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of Vienna Medical University's Center for Public Health.
The intervention study investigated the "Drinks and Snacks Driving Licence" nutritional awareness programme, using 18 classes comprising 344 ten-year-old pupils from seven schools in Vienna. This programme was developed by SIPCAN and is taught over 5 weeks by year-5 primary school teachers. A questionnaire is used to establish pupils' sugar intake from different food groups. The intervention showed that the children who did their "Drinks and Snacks Driving Licence" in their biology lesson (intervention group) reduced their sugar consumption by an average of 10.1 g per day. A significantly higher reduction of 13% was achieved in the intervention group compared with the control group (standard syllabus), in which it was 6%. The reduction in sugar intake was primarily achieved by reducing consumption of sweets and pastries, as well as soft drinks. Even though the programme is so easy to implement, there was found to be a 50 g reduction in sugar intake per child/school week.
About Eva Winzer
After studying nutritional sciences at the University of Vienna, Eva Winzer (née Luger) completed the Endocrinology & Metabolism PhD programme at the Medical University of Vienna. She has worked at the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna's Center for Public Health since 2013 and as a research assistant at the SIPCAN institute since 2016.
Service:
Eva Winzer, Maria Luger, Manuel Schätzer, Nadine Moser, Karin Blagusz, Barbara Rittmannsberger, Monika Lechleitner, Anita Rieder, Friedrich Hoppichler. Reducing sugar consumption via a school nutritional awareness programme. 45th Annual Conference of the Austrian Diabetes Society, Wien Klin Wochenschr (2017) 129:(4 Suppl), 161-162
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00508-017-1283-y.pdf