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Modeled impact of food and beverage reformulations on added sugars intake and its social gradient in the US
Author(s) -
Gressier Mathilde,
Mathias Kevin C,
Drewnowski Adam,
Vlassopoulos Antonis,
Masset Gabriel
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.437.4
Subject(s) - added sugar , sugar , food science , nutrition facts label , national health and nutrition examination survey , environmental health , population , dietary fiber , fortification , chemistry , mathematics , medicine
The sugar intake of the US population is above the WHO recommendation, with soft drinks and sugary foods as the main contributors of such intake. Lower socio‐economic classes (SEC) tend to have higher sugar intake than higher SEC. Different incentives are being discussed to limit this intake, like taxation, reformulation, or labelling of added sugars. Reformulation is a possible strategy to improve dietary intakes, without having to change consumers' eating habits. The objective of this study was to assess the potential impact of industry wide reformulation on added sugars intake, from solid and liquid sources, and across SEC. Methods Foods and beverages consumed by 5076 US adults aged 18+ years were retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–12, and assessed against the Nestlé Nutritional Profiling System (NNPS) standards. NNPS classifies products in a dichotomous Pass/Fail, based on whether they meet all criteria for energy, total and saturated fats, sodium, added sugars, protein, fiber and calcium. In a modelling scenario, all Fail products were substituted with the Pass item having the closest nutrition composition using the Euclidean distance. Actual added sugars intakes (baseline) were compared to the modeled intakes (substitution scenario). Added sugars intakes from solid and liquid sources were studied separately. The study was stratified by SEC, using the income‐to‐poverty ratio (IPR). Linear regressions were performed to assess social gradients of added sugars intake (actual and modeled). Results The average daily intake of added sugars was 77.6 g/d ( SE:1.7 ) for US adults at baseline, with solid and liquid sources contributing similarly (38.7; 1.0 and 38.9; 1.4 g/d, respectively). Added sugars intake was negatively associated with IPR (1 st quintile 89.4g; /d, 5 th 70.8g/d, p‐trend<0.001, Figure). This social gradient was explained by intake from liquid sources. The substitution scenario led to a mean daily intake of 41.7; 0.9 g/d for the whole population. The modeled reduction in added sugar intakes was mainly explained by reduced intakes from liquid sources (−29.5 g/d vs −6.4 for solid sources). This resulted in an overall attenuation of the added sugars intake social gradient (1 st IPR quintile 45.9g/d, 5 th 41.3g/d, p‐trend= 0.025, Figure). Conclusion Industry‐wide reformulations could lead to a 46% reduction in the US adults' added sugars intake, mainly through the reformulation of liquid sources. Moreover, the modeling suggests that reformulations are likely to reduce the social gradient in added sugars intakes. Nevertheless, reformulation efforts need to be combined with other initiatives promoting healthier dietary choices and adequate serving sizes. Support or Funding Information This study was founded by Nestec SA