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Intake and sources of added sugars among Australian children and adolescents

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Abstract

Purpose

To examine the intake and sources of added sugars (AS) of Australian children and adolescents, and compare their intake of free sugars (FS) to the recommended limit set by the World Health Organization (<10 % energy from FS).

Method

Data of 4140 children and adolescents aged 2–16 years with plausible intakes based on 2 × 24 h recalls from the 2007 Australian National Children Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey were used. AS content of foods was estimated based on a published method. Intakes of AS and FS, as well as food sources of AS, were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used for comparisons between age groups and gender.

Results

The mean (SD) AS intake was 58.9 (35.1) g/day, representing 11.9 (5.6) % of daily energy intake and 46.9 (17.5) % of daily total sugars intake. More than 80 % of the subjects had % energy from FS > 10 %. Significant increasing trends for AS intake, % energy from AS, % energy from FS across age groups were observed. Sugar-sweetened beverages (19.6 %), cakes, biscuits, pastries and batter-based products (14.3 %), and sugar and sweet spreads (10.5 %) were the top three contributors of AS intake in the whole sample. Higher contribution of AS from sugar-sweetened beverages was observed in adolescents (p trend < 0.001).

Conclusions

A large proportion of Australian youths are consuming excessive amounts of energy from AS. Since the main sources of AS were energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, interventions which target the reduction in these foods would reduce energy and AS intake with minimal impact to core nutrient intake.

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Acknowledgments

The original data of the 2007 ANCNPAS were collected by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and the University of South Australia. The authors would like to thank the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for providing the survey data via the Australian Social Science Data Archive. The authors declare that those who carried out the original analysis and collection of the data bear no responsibility for the further analysis or interpretation included in this manuscript. All authors contributed to the conception of the study. HM and JL performed the statistical analyses. JL drafted the manuscript. All authors critically reviewed and interpreted the data, were involved in the subsequent edits of the manuscript, and have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Molecular Bioscience and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Jimmy Chun Yu Louie & Anna M. Rangan

  2. School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, The University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Hanieh Moshtaghian

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Victoria M. Flood

  4. St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Victoria M. Flood

  5. Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Timothy P. Gill

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  1. Jimmy Chun Yu Louie
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Correspondence to Jimmy Chun Yu Louie.

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Louie, J.C.Y., Moshtaghian, H., Rangan, A.M. et al. Intake and sources of added sugars among Australian children and adolescents. Eur J Nutr 55, 2347–2355 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-1041-8

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