Sugar Intakes from Snacks and Beverages in Japanese Children

Abstract

While sugar intake is an important factor for obesity, diabetes and dental caries, sugars are also important energy sources, especially for rapidly growing children. Children like sugar-rich sweet foods. However, intake for Japanese children is not known due to a lack of studies and sugar composition data. This study was designed to determine sugar intakes from snacks and beverages in Japanese school children. A nutrition survey was conducted for 3 weekdays for 283 Japanese school children (7, 10 and 13 y old) in 8 prefectures from different areas of Japan. The methods for the survey were the weighing method for school lunches and the 24-h recall method for other foods. To estimate sugar intakes, the sugar composition table that was recently compiled by us for 135 beverages, cakes and other sweets was used. Height and weight were measured. They were similar to Japanese averages. Energy intakes were also similar to the results of the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Surveys. Sugar eaten outside meals was 24.7 Ϯ 15.5 g/d. From the National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted in 2009, the mean sucrose intake from meals including some home-made cookies for 7-14-y-old children was 5.5 g/d, suggesting the mean total sugar intake of these children was about 30 g/d. This was within the range of FAO/WHO recommendation (less than 10% of energy intake, 49 g for these children. Mean intakes among age groups were not significantly different (p Ͼ 0.05), but the intake for girls was lower than for boys in the oldest age group (p Ͻ 0.05). Contributions of each sugar to total intake were sucrose 64%, fructose 14%, glucose 13% and lactose 9%. Fructose and glucose were mainly from isomerized sugar. Contributions of food groups to total intake were beverages 25%, baked goods 19% and ice cream 17%, respectively, covering 61% of all. In conclusion, we revealed that the average sugar intake of Japanese children was within the range of the FAO/WHO recommendation, though the effects of the kind of sugars on health remain to be clarified.

The Ingestion of High-Fructose Syrup-Containing Cola with a Hamburger Delays Postprandial Lipid Metabolism in Young Healthy Japanese Women

“…However, in Japanese children, the average sugar intake from snacks and beverages is within the range of FAO/WHO recommendations [20]. In addition, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in 18-to 20-year-old Japanese women (144 g/day) was much lower than that in 12-to 19-year-old US youth (683 g/day) [21].…”

The Japanese School Lunch and Its Contribution to Health

“…We have studied sugar intake from snacks and beverages consumed by Japanese schoolchildren and found it to be approximately 25 g a day. 23 The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that a reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake per day would have additional benefits, even though they have also recommended that sugar intake stay at less than 10% of total energy intake per day. 24 The amount (25 g a day) consumed by Japanese children is the amount that WHO recommends.…”

Relationship between Sugar Intake and Obesity among School-Age Children in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

“…Sample size was estimated by the following equation. We used mean and standard deviation (SD) reported in a previous study in Japan (1 …”

“…Many desserts provide few nutrients other than saccharide, but sugars are tasty and pleasurable and can easily satisfy the desire for food and also easily induce people to consume more, especially children (1). There are many reports that the excessive intake of sugar increases the risk of lifestyle-related disease, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes (2,3).…”

“…There are reports about sugar intake among children and adolescents from various countries: United States boys consumed an average of 362 kcals (90.5 g/d) from sugars compared with 282 kcals (70.5 g/d) for girls (7), United Kingdom 84 g/d (8), Holland 135 g/d (9), Philippines 59 g/d (6), Cambodia 28 g/d (10), Vietnam 27 g/d (11) and Japan 25 g/d (1). However, sugar intake for Taiwanese children was not known.…”