Sugar reduction in products targeted at children: Why are we not there yet?

Abstract

Sugar intake among children has raised concern worldwide as it exceeds nutritional recommendations. Sugar contributes to the daily energy intake, without providing additional nutritional value and is associated with several negative health outcomes. Sugars added to foods during industrial processing have been identified as the main source of sugar in children's diets. The present work critically discusses the role of the food industry in contributing to children's excessive sugar intake worldwide, and the strategies that have been encouraged or implemented to reduce the sugar content in products targeted at children. The risk of the current sugar reduction practices in products targeted at children is discussed based on recent scientific evidence. Children's heightened preference for sweetness may not justify the availability of highly sugary products for children.Although research suggests that children readily accept less sweet products, there is still some wariness in the food industry to reduce sweetness intensity. This has strengthened the use of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), focusing on maintaining the sweetness level.However, emerging evidence suggests that this may not be the best approach. Practical applicationsResearch shows that significant sugar reduction is feasible in products targeted at children without affecting hedonic perception, even if sweetness is reduced. The scientific evidence discussed in the present work challenges traditional approaches to sugar reduction and gives real life, practical recommendations for practitioners. All stakeholders (industry, food and health researchers, and policy makers) involved in the reformulation of products targeted at children are encouraged to prioritize children's best interest and protect their right to a healthy diet. | INTRODUCTIONChildhood overweight and obesity is one of the most important public health problems worldwide, affecting 5.9% of children under 5 and 18.4% of 5-19 year old children (UNICEF, 2019). Overweight and obesity during childhood has negative short-term and long-term effects on health and wellbeing, including increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, as well as increased likelihood of suffering depression and other psychological

Nutrient profiles of commercially produced complementary foods available in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines

“…Despite widespread recognition of the need to reduce sugar intake in children (2,24) , progress in lowering the sugar content of products marketed to IYC has been insufficient. It is critical to advocate a new approach to sugar reduction that focuses on avoiding added sugars and sweetness intensity (34) . While the recommendation to prohibit added sugars in CPCF may be considered challenging to implement, it could be an effective strategy (35,36) to reduce sugar intake of older IYC at the population level in South-East Asia, given their increasing consumption of CPCF.…”

The Nutritional Profile and On-Pack Marketing of Toddler-Specific Food Products Launched in Australia between 1996 and 2020

“…This may be partly explained by the fact that the predominant type of snack food was fruit-based cereal bars, and some reformulation over time may have occurred. The small changes in nutrient compositions seen may align with product reformulation within this retail market [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], as snacks were seen to have lower median sodium, sugar, and carbohydrate levels at T3 as compared to T2, with sugar increasing at T4. Global research over various time periods reports toddler foods to be high in sugar and/or sodium [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”

Novel nutritionally improved snacks for school-aged children: formulation, characterization and acceptability

“…Consumption of such dietary components exceeds the maximum recommended values in several Latin American countries, including Argentina (Carrillo-Larco and Bernabe-Ortiz, 2020; Fisberg et al , 2018). Even though sugar is naturally present in different foods, added sucrose in processed products targeted at children is the main source of empty calories in their diet (Velázquez et al , 2021), whereas sodium chloride is the major contributor to daily sodium intake, and is also related to weight gain during childhood (Grimes et al , 2021). On the other hand, effects of sugar and salt reduction on snacks production techniques should also be considered.…”