Where are the low-calorie sweeteners? An analysis of the presence and types of low-calorie sweeteners in packaged foods sold in Brazil from food labelling

Figueiredo, Luiza dos Santos; Scapin, Tailane; Fernandes, Ana Carolina; Proença, Rossana Pacheco da Costa

doi:10.1017/s136898001700283x

Cited by 24 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Consequently, 51.9% of the food expenses are destined to buy processed foods that eventually might contain NCSs. On the other hand, we also compared our results with those from similar studies carried out in other countries (34)(35)(36)(37). Chile was clearly the country with the highest proportion of NCS-containing food products (55.5%), Brazil being the second with 24.4%, i.e., less than half what is reported in Chile.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Finally, Table 3 summarized the results from similar studies carried out in other countries from Latin America [Brazil (34), Mexico (35)], North America [USA (36)], Europe [Spain (37)], and Oceania [New Zealand and Australia (35)]. Chile shows a much higher proportion of NCS-containing foodstuffs, globally as well as in each considered food group.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The proportions of NCS-containing products in each food group were compared with these recently reported in Brazil, Mexico, United States, Spain, Australia, and New-Zealand (34)(35)(36)(37).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overuse of Non-caloric Sweeteners in Foods and Beverages in Chile: A Threat to Consumers' Free Choice?

et al. 2020

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The prevalence of obesity among Chilean adults and children is one of the highest worldwide. To fight the constant increase of non-communicable diseases and the growing sales of sugar-sweetened beverages, the Chilean government recently enacted a new Law of Food Labeling and Advertising imposing the application of front-of-package warning labels in foodstuffs whose composition exceeds limits for critical nutrients including sugar. Accordingly, food companies have been reformulating their products, incorporating non-caloric sweeteners (NCSs) in partial or total replacement of sucrose. The number of NCS-containing foods and beverages, therefore, has been increasing in the last years. This study aims to identify the NCS-containing products from different food/beverage categories currently available on the Chilean market. Nineteen supermarkets and 13 food web pages were visited by trained dietitians to carry out a systematic search of ingredient information from the different food categories. Overall, 1,489 products were analyzed, of which 815 (55.5%) contained at least one NCS, being this proportion particularly high, compared to other countries. 67.1% of the dairy products, 31.5% of the cereal products, 49% of the processed fruits, 74.3% of the non-alcoholic beverages, and 46.2% of sweets and other desserts contained NCS. Considering the food categories more specifically oriented to children, NCSs were present in 98.8% of powder juices, 98.3% of the flavored milks, 91.2% of jellies, and 79% of the dairy desserts. Sucralose and steviol glycosides were the most widely used NCSs, these sweeteners being present, alone or mixed with other, in 73.5 and 39.7% of the NCS-containing products, respectively, while the use of saccharin and cyclamate was low. In addition, 80 tabletop NCSs were available in the local market, 91.2% of them being sucralose and steviol glycosides (alone or combined). The high number of food products containing steviol glycosides makes very plausible that the daily consumption of this NCS in the pediatric populations could exceed its acceptable daily intake (ADI). The fact that there are no NCS-free foods alternatives for certain food categories, especially for children, is worrying.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Overuse of Non-caloric Sweeteners in Foods and Beverages in Chile: A Threat to Consumers' Free Choice?

et al. 2020

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“…The IBGE food/beverage categories identified as containing LNCS in the current studies overlap the categories identified in a recent study by Figueiredo et al (2018) that summarised information on the presence of LNCS in packaged foods and beverages sold in a supermarket in Brazil. Most of the food/ beverage categories with the highest prevalence of LNCS usage in the Figueiredo et al (2018) studyi.e., baked goods (including cakes and granola bars), dessert mixes, powdered drinks, soft drinks, jelly, and candy -were also identified in the current study as containing LNCS, thus lending support to the use of the IBGE survey data to assess intake of LNCS by the Brazilian population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Intake of low and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) by the Brazilian population

Barraj

Scrafford

et al. 2020

Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A

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“…To the best of our knowledge, our survey is the fifth in Brazil investigating all food product labels in a single supermarket; the other studies were conducted in the same supermarket chain as that of the present study ( 24 – 27 , 43 – 49 ) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%