Free Sugars Consumption in Canada

Abstract

Free sugars (FS) are associated with a higher risk of dental decay in children and an increased risk of weight gain, overweight and obesity and type 2 diabetes. For this reason, Canada’s Food Guide recommends limiting foods and beverages that contribute to excess free sugars consumption. Estimating FS intakes is needed to inform policies and interventions aimed at reducing Canadians’ consumption of FS. The objective of this study was to estimate FS intake of Canadians using a new method that estimated the free sugars content of foods in the Canadian Nutrient File, the database used in national nutrition surveys. We define FS as sugars present in food products in which the structure has been broken down. We found that 12% of total energy (about 56 g) comes from FS in the diet of Canadians 1 year of age and older (≥1 year). The top four sources were: (1) sugars, syrups, preserves, confectionary, desserts; (2) soft drinks; (3) baked products and (4) juice (without added sugars), and accounted for 60% of total free sugars intake. The results show that efforts need to be sustained to help Canadians, particularly children and adolescents, to reduce their FS intake.

Evaluation of the Healthy Eating Food Index (HEFI)-2019 measuring adherence to Canada’s Food Guide 2019 recommendations on healthy food choices

“…Nutrient intakes were computed using the Canadian Nutrient File 2015(Health Canada, 2018. Data on RAs were obtained from the Government of Canada website (Health Canada, 2016) and 8 data on free sugars were obtained from Health Canada's estimation (Rana et al, 2021).…”

“…Free sugars are monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods, sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates, and sugars from foods whose structure has been broken down (e.g., fruit or vegetable juices, purées or pastes, extracts and artificial flavorings, alcoholic drinks) (Rana et al, 2021).…”

Experimental study of front-of-package nutrition labels’ efficacy on perceived healthfulness of sugar-sweetened beverages among youth in six countries

“…High intake of SSBs, including soda and other beverages with added sugar ( von Philipsborn et al, 2019 ), is associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes in youth, including obesity ( Keller and Torre, 2015 , Ambrosini et al, 2014 ) and hypertension ( Farhangi et al, 2020 ). SSBs are a primary source of added sugar among youth across many countries ( Rosinger et al, 2017 , Langlois et al, 2019 , Tedstone et al, 2015 , Rana et al, 2021 ). As the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting total daily sugar intake to under 10% of calories consumed ( World Health Organization, 2015 ), there is increasing interest in identifying public health measures that reduce SSB consumption among youth.…”

Development of the Healthy Eating Food Index (HEFI)-2019 measuring adherence to Canada’s Food Guide 2019 recommendations on healthy food choices

“…The Reference Amounts of each food can be found on Government of Canada website (Health Canada, 2016). The free sugars estimates of foods in the Canadian Nutrient File can be found elsewhere (Rana et al, 2021).…”

“…The Canadian Nutrient File (Health Canada, 2018a), from which the dietary intake data are calculated in 2015 CCHS-Nutrition, does not include information on free sugars. However, Health Canada has constructed a database of the free sugars content for foods and ingredients included in the Canadian Nutrient File v2015 (Rana et al, 2021).…”