Deconstructing the Supermarket: Systematic Ingredient Disaggregation and the Association between Ingredient Usage and Product Health Indicators for 24,229 Australian Foods and Beverages.

Allison Gaines,Bruce Neal,Tazman Davies,Fraser Taylor,Jason Hy Wu,Maria Shahid,Liping Huang

doi:10.3390/nu13061882

Allison Gaines, Bruce Neal + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061882

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Abstract

Unhealthy diets are underpinned by the over-consumption of packaged products. Data describing the ingredient composition of these products is limited. We sought to define the ingredients used in Australian packaged foods and beverages and assess associations between the number of ingredients and existing health indicators. Statements of ingredients were disaggregated, creating separate fields for each ingredient and sub-ingredient. Ingredients were categorised and the average number of ingredients per product was calculated. Associations between number of ingredients and both the nutrient-based Health Star Rating (HSR) and the NOVA level-of-processing classification were assessed. A total of 24,229 products, listing 233,113 ingredients, were included. Products had between 1 and 62 ingredients (median (Interquartile range (IQR)): 8 (3–14)). We identified 915 unique ingredients, which we organised into 17 major and 138 minor categories. ‘Additives’ were contained in the largest proportion of products (64.6%, (15,652/24,229)). The median number of ingredients per product was significantly lower in products with the optimum 5-star HSR (when compared to all other HSR score groups, p-value < 0.001) and significantly higher in products classified as ultra-processed (when compared to all other NOVA classification groups, p-value < 0.001). There is a strong relationship between the number of ingredients in a product and indicators of nutritional quality and level of processing.

Highlights

Much ill health globally is caused by poor dietary choices [1]
The Health Star Rating (HSR) system [5] developed by the Australian government assigns each food between half a star and five stars using a nutrient profiling algorithm
This was a cross-sectional examination of packaged food and beverage products in the Australian food supply carried out using FoodSwitch, a database developed and operated by the George Institute for Global Health

Summary

Introduction

Much ill health globally is caused by poor dietary choices [1]. In turn, underpinned by a food system that tends to promote over-consumption of unhealthy packaged foods and beverages [2,3]. Often these packaged products are high in salt, added sugar and harmful fats which are direct causes of obesity, diabetes and other chronic health conditions [4]. It can be difficult for consumers to pick between more and less healthy packaged food and beverage products. To provide consumers with point-of-sale information that identifies better choices, governments and other organisations are introducing front-of-pack labels. The Health Star Rating (HSR) system [5] developed by the Australian government assigns each food between half a star and five stars using a nutrient profiling

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