Abstract
Monitoring dietary intake of sugars in the population’s diet has great importance in evaluating the efficiency of national sugar reduction programmes. The study objective was to provide a comprehensive assessment of dietary sources of added and free sugars to assess adherence to public health recommendations in the UK population and to consider the impact of different sugar definitions on monitoring. The terms “added sugar” and “free sugar” are different sugar definitions which include different sugar components and may result in different sugar intakes depending on the definition. Dietary intake of added sugars, free sugars and seven individual sugar components (sugar from table sugar; other sugars; honey; fruit juice; fruit puree; dried fruit; and stewed fruit) of 2138 males and females (1.5–64 years) from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) 2014–2016, collected using a 4 day estimated food diary, were studied. Added and free sugar intake accounted for 7% to 13% of total energy intake respectively. Major sources of free sugar intake were “cereals and cereal products”, “non-alcoholic beverages”, and “sugars, preserves, confectionery”. Differences between added and free sugar intake were significantly large, and thus use of free sugar versus added sugar definitions need careful consideration for standardised monitoring of sugar intake in relation to public health.
Highlights
Dietary risk factors are one of the most common causes of non-communicable diseases
Intakes of sugars were ranked in the following order; added sugars (EFSA) < free sugars (WHO) < free sugars (SACN)
These differences are due to the differences in definition and the difference in the sub-categorisation of sugars included in the calculation
Summary
Dietary risk factors are one of the most common causes of non-communicable diseases. Poor diet is a risk factor for obesity, which is a rapidly increasing independent risk factor for many non-communicable diseases worldwide [1]. High intake of free sugars is a public health concern as it is associated with poor diet, obesity and risk of non-communicable diseases [1]. Dietary recommendations are presently among the most common measures that governments and health organisations use to monitor sugar intake [2]. Tax on sugar-sweetened beverages [4] (e.g., tax to sweetened sugar beverages in Mexico [5] and Berkeley, California [6]) to monitor and reduce sugar intake. In 2015, the UK moved from monitoring sugars in terms of non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) to monitoring free sugar intakes [7].
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