Diet-Quality and Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Non-Nutritive Sweetener Use in the Australian Population.

Amanda Grech,Chi Kam,Luke Gemming,Anna Rangan

doi:10.3390/nu10070833

Abstract

Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are used in the food supply to replace sugar and/or to reduce dietary energy intake. The aim of this research was to assess the consumption prevalence and food sources of NNS in the Australian population. Food group and nutrient intakes were assessed to compare diet quality of NNS consumers and non-consumers. Secondary analysis of the Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 2011/12 was conducted (n = 12,435) after identifying all NNS products consumed in the population. The proportion of participants that reported intake of NNS per day was 18.2% for adults (19+ years), and 8.5% for children (2–18 years), with the most common food sources being carbonated soft drinks, tabletop sweeteners, and yoghurt. Characteristics associated with NNS consumption in adults included being female, higher body mass index (BMI), self-reported diabetes status, and being on a weight-loss diet. For adults, NNS consumers had lower free sugar intake but energy intake did not differ from non-consumers. However, for children, no differences in free sugar or energy intake were observed between consumers and non-consumers. While these results support the use of NNS in reducing sugar intake, these data suggest compensatory increases in energy intake may occur.

Highlights

Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are energy-free or very low energy alternatives to sugar and other nutritive sweeteners, and are often marketed as ‘diet’, ‘sugar-free’, ‘no sugar’, or ‘reduced sugar’
A total of 122 out of 5740 food items in the AUSNUT2013 database were identified as NNS-containing foods
The prevalence of NNS consumption across different population subgroups is shown in Table 1 and Table 2

Summary

Introduction

Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are energy-free or very low energy alternatives to sugar and other nutritive sweeteners, and are often marketed as ‘diet’, ‘sugar-free’, ‘no sugar’, or ‘reduced sugar’. Common NNS include saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame, acesulphame K, sucralose, alitame, neotame, and stevia [2]. NNS offer much higher intensity of sweetness per unit weight than sucrose and can be found in a wide range of food and beverage products such as yoghurt, jam, chewing gum, cordials, and soft drinks. They are sold as tabletop sweeteners, which can be added to tea, coffee, or used in baking recipes to replace sugar. When NNS were first introduced, they were believed to be beneficial to reduce sugar and energy intake for weight management [3,4,5], but study findings on their efficacy are inconsistent [6,7,8,9]

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