The Association Between Ready-to-eat Cereal Consumption, Stratified by Sugar Content, and Nutrient Intakes in American Children and Adults: Results From NHANES 2017–2018

Abstract

ObjectivesThe study was conducted to report the average nutrient intakes for RTEC eaters, stratified by sugar content, compared to RTEC non-eaters. Our hypothesis was that regardless of RTEC sugar content, RTEC eaters would have higher intakes of under-consumed nutrients compared to non-eaters. Methods“What We Eat in America” food categories were used to define higher-sugar (HS; ≥21.2 g sugar/100 g RTEC) and lower-sugar (LS; < 21.2 g sugar/100 g RTEC) RTEC. Using cross-sectional day 1 24-hr dietary recall data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017–2018 for participants 2 years of age and older, we defined HS-RTEC eaters (n = 1008, 13%) as eating any quantity of HS-RTEC; LS-RTEC eaters (n = 419, 7%) as consuming any quantity of LS-RTEC and no HS-RTEC; and non-eaters as not consuming RTEC (n = 5604, 80%). Differences in nutrient intakes (presented as mean ± SE) were evaluated using ANOVA with post-hoc comparisons. A P ≤ 0.001 was considered statistically significant to account for multiple comparisons. ResultsThere were no differences in intake of energy, protein, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and vitamins C and E between the groups (all P ≥ 0.02). Added sugar intake was significantly different across the 3 groups (HS-RTEC 20.2 ± 0.9 tsp. eq./d; LS-RTEC 15.1 ± 1.5 tsp. eq./d; non-eaters 16.5 ± 0.5 tsp. eq./d; ANOVA P = 0.0005) but post-hoc comparisons didn’t reach statistical significance. HS- and LS-RTEC eaters had higher intake of calcium, fiber, folate, riboflavin, thiamin, zinc, and vitamins A, B12, B6 and D compared to non-eaters (all ANOVA P < 0.0001; post-hoc LS-RTEC vs. HS-RTEC all P ≥ 0.07; LS-RTEC vs. non-eaters all P ≤ 0.001; HS-RTEC vs. non-eaters all P ≤ 0.001). E.g. calcium intake was 30% higher in HS-RTEC and 25% higher in LS-RTEC compared to non-eaters. Whole grain and iron, and magnesium intakes were significantly different across the three groups with LS-RTEC having the highest intake (all ANOVA P < 0.0001). E.g. whole grain intake was 143% higher in LS-RTEC and 71% higher in HS-RTEC compared to non-eaters. ConclusionsRTEC consumption was associated with higher intake of many under-consumed nutrients regardless of sugar content. Funding SourcesThe study was supported by Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, General Mills, Inc.