Trends in added sugars from packaged beverages available and purchased by US households, 2007–2012

Abstract

The US Food and Drug Administration's updated nutrition labeling requirements will include added sugars starting in July 2018, but no measure currently exists to identify the added sugar content of products and what it represents among purchases. Beverages are one of the first targets for reducing added sugar consumption, and hence are the focus here. Our goal was to estimate trends in added sugars in nonalcoholic packaged beverage products available in the United States and to estimate amounts of added sugars obtained from these beverages given the purchases of US households overall and by subpopulations. On the basis of nutrition label data from multiple sources, we used a stepwise approach to derive the added sugar content of 160,713 beverage products recorded as purchased by US households in 2007-2012 (345,193 observations from 110,539 unique households). We estimated the amounts of added sugars obtained from packaged beverages US households reported buying in 2007-2008, 2009-2010, and 2011-2012, overall and by subpopulations based on household composition, race/ethnicity, and income. The key outcomes are added sugars in terms of per capita grams per day and the percentage of calories from packaged beverages. Packaged beverages alone account for per capita consumption of 12 g/d of added sugars purchased by US households in 2007-2012, representing 32-48% of calories from packaged beverages. Whereas the absolute amount of added sugars from beverages has not changed meaningfully over time, the relative contribution of added sugars to calories from beverages has increased. Non-Hispanic black households and low-income households obtain both higher absolute and relative amounts of added sugars from beverages than non-Hispanic white households and high-income households (all < 0.01). These results provide measures of added sugars from packaged beverages at both the product level and the population level in the United States and can be used for comparisons after the revised nutrition labels are implemented and for future monitoring.

Differences in Lifestyle Behaviours of Students between Inner Urban and Peri-urban High Schools: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chongqing, China

“…Moreover, the consumption proportions of ≥3 times/week among the four surveyed sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was consistent with results of one previous study, which showed that vegetable/fruit-flavoured drinks and tea beverage had become the leading SSBs in China [39]. With increasing studies and rapid spread of mass media, the public has improved the awareness of the high sugar content and hazards of carbonated SSBs (CSSBs) [40,41]. Thus, some people prefer non-carbonated SSBs (NCSSBs) as potential alternatives to CSSBs with the perception that they are healthier [42].…”

Understanding the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, and Geographic Location: A Scoping Review of U.S. Consumer Food Purchasing

“…Thirty-four studies were included in this scoping review [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Information on customer purchasing assessment methodologies used across studies is shown in ( Table 1 ).…”

“…Fifteen studies (44.1%) examined purchasing outcomes across racial and/or ethnic groups [ 27 , 29 , 30 , 39 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 54 ]. All studies examined purchasing among NHW, 14 examined purchasing among NHB, 14 studied purchasing among Hispanic, nine examined purchasing among non-Hispanic Other (or a different author definition that collapsed multiple racial/ethnic groups), and three investigated purchasing among Asian (using the author definition).…”

“…Several reviewed studies ( n = 15, 44.1%) presented purchasing findings by race/ethnicity [ 27 , 29 , 30 , 39 , 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 54 ]. Despite the large number of studies conducted to date, inconsistencies exist.…”

Mycotoxin Contamination of Beverages Obtained from Tropical Crops

“…Lastly, Central and South American countries are the principal producers of tropical beverage crops, fruits, and sugar [30] (Table 1). Additionally, consumer-wise, there has been a shift from nutrient-deficient, added-sugar and high fructose-containing beverages to more natural fruits and herbal infusions due to the prevalence of obesity [31,32]. Natural fruit juice drinking has changed the dynamics of the still drinks industry and consumption patterns.…”