Canadians’ consumption of added sugars ranges from 11% to 13% of total calorie intake, which is slightly higher than the threshold established by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and by the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (less than 10%). Not bad, but one might say further reducing the intake to less than 5% provides “additional health benefits.” As high consumption of added sugars is associated with an increased risk of a myriad of diseases such as stroke, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, consumers are urged to be vigilant about the food products they purchase.
A recent study led by Canadian researcher David Hammond, Ph.D., highlighted the overwhelming presence of added sugar in more than two-thirds of Canadian packaged foods. This finding is quite similar to that noted in the U.S., and it is, therefore, reasonable to believe that this result can be extrapolated to most of the food products sold in North America. In this study, more than 40,000 packaged products were analyzed. While it comes to no surprise that snacks, sweets, and beverages top the chart, you’ll be surprised at the runner-up categories.
But before we dive into the study, let’s do a quick recap on sugar.
Types of Sugars
As the name implies, added sugar refers to “sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared.” In contrast, intrinsic sugars are sugars naturally found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, and milk.
The World Health Organization (WHO) took the definition for added sugars up a notch and introduced the term free sugar. Free sugars are defined as “monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods and beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.”
Total sugar is the sum of intrinsic, added, and milk sugars. In other words, it is the total amount of sugar found in the food product, regardless of its origins.
The Findings
- Two-thirds of the packaged food products sold at the largest Canadian grocery contains at least one added sugar.
- While the category “snacks and sweets” tops the list of the highest amount of sugars, it is quickly followed by “condiments, sauces and spreads,” “infant formula and baby food,” “beverages” and “fruits and vegetables” categories.
- Roughly 90% of the snacks and sweets contains added sugars; cereals (85.7%); yogurt (73.8%); beverages (78.7%); condiments, sauces, and spreads (73.1%); bread products (70.6%); protein foods (56.6%).
- Almost half of the baby food products contain at least one added sugars.
Reference
ChooseMyPlate. URL Link. Accessed January 18, 2017.
