Evolution of critical nutrients (salt, sugars and saturated fats) in Spanish foods and beverages in the last 25 years

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, etc.) are the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 71 % of global deaths. The risk factors for all of them are closely linked to lifestyle and in particular to diet. For this reason, public health policies in European Union countries, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, include in their priority measures actions aimed at promoting healthier food environments. One of these measures are policies for the reformulation of processed foods to reduce critical nutrients: salt, saturated fats, trans fats and added sugars. In Spain, as part of the NAOS Strategy, food reformulation measures have been implemented since 2008. Of all of them, the Plan de Colaboración para la Mejora de la Composición de Alimentos y Bebidas y otras Medidas 2020 stands out, which has led to a reduction in the content of salt, sugar, saturated and total fat in foods belonging to 57 subcategories marketed by the main food manufacturing and marketing companies from 2016 to 2021. Despite this, to date no population-based study has been conducted to test the impact of the measure on the diet of the Spanish population. The present article, by way of example, shows results of the theoretical estimation of total sugar intake in the pre-reformulation period (2016) and post-reformulation period (2024) based on the consumption of beverages in Spain. Data highlight that reformulation policies could have positive effects that need to be evaluated in representative studies of the Spanish population assessing the overall diet, in order to solidly confirm their positive effects on the population's diet.