Raising awareness among low-income families about excessive consumption of added sugar: interactive booth during the MAYbe Less Sugar campaign

Over the course of two mornings at the Caritas grocery store in Lausanne: the DiabèteVaud team will run an interactive booth as part of the MAYBe Less Sugar campaign. This booth provides information on added sugars to raise awareness among Caritas’s client families about sugar consumption, products containing sugar, and affordable alternatives. Educational materials will be available to support the booth, and sugar-free treats will be offered to participants.

Caritas client families

Swiss men and women consume too much added sugar on a daily basis compared to nutritional recommendations, even though excessive consumption of added sugar increases the risk of developing chronic diseases. Launched in 2023, the MAYbe Less Sugar campaign invites the public, every year during the month of May, to make the issue of excessive added sugar consumption a public health concern. MAYbe Less Sugar aims to: - raise public awareness about excessive sugar consumption and its health consequences; - enable participants to assess their consumption of added sugars using the online calculator, identify foods and beverages that contain them, and try out alternatives to find other ways to treat themselves; - improve health literacy; - place sugar at the center of the discussion and create an environment that helps individuals moderate their sugar intake and protect their health. Excessive sugar consumption and its consequences—such as being overweight and chronic diseases—affect people of lower socioeconomic status more severely. Furthermore, young people—especially those from families with low socioeconomic status—are particularly affected by excessive sugar consumption. It is therefore necessary to take action targeting these populations in order to reduce health inequalities. Offering concrete initiatives in places frequented by disadvantaged individuals—notably by setting up interactive booths for families—is an effective way to reach the target audience and convey health messages. The goal is therefore to organize two mornings of interactive booth activities led by DiabèteVaud during the month of May at the Caritas grocery store in Lausanne. An interactive booth makes the topic accessible to everyone. Educational materials are useful for striking up conversations with passersby. This material includes a wheel with questions about added sugars, displays of foods and beverages commonly consumed by families—asking them to guess the amount of added sugar in each product—and helping people understand that added sugars are sometimes “hidden.” The educational materials will also offer participants low-sugar, budget-friendly recipes to encourage them to reduce their intake of added sugar by making their own meals at home. At the end of the event, passersby will be able to leave with a goodie bag (a low-added-sugar item from the Caritas grocery store, such as fresh fruit, dried fruit, herbal teas, etc.). Two representatives from diabètevaud will be on hand to staff the booth: a dietitian who can provide accurate answers to people’s questions about added sugars, and a representative from diabètevaud trained in the educational materials and in leading activities on the topic of added sugars. A staffed booth has already been held once a year during the first three editions of MAYbe Less Sugar and has been a real success. The accessibility and availability of the facilitators regarding the topic of added sugars are beneficial and appreciated by Caritas clients, particularly families interested in learning more. In addition, the educational materials, tailored to their level of understanding, are useful and effective, and the prizes on offer motivate participants to engage and discuss the topic. Financial support from the Lausanne Office for Families would make it possible to replicate and further improve this awareness-raising initiative on added sugars.

Caritas Grocery Store in Lausanne (Av. de Morges 26, 1004 Lausanne)

Coordination between diabètevaud and the Caritas grocery store to agree on dates and the organization of the booths: January–March 2027 2 mornings of interactive booths on added sugars: May 2027

4,000

diabètevaud, Caritas Vaud. The MAYbe Less Sugar initiative is carried out in partnership with more than 120 partners (nonprofits, municipalities, educational institutions, and social and health care organizations) to deliver messages tailored to different audiences.