Sugar content of supermarket beverages commonly consumed by children in New Zealand 2017 Online Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 1 © 2017 Public Health Association of Australia doi[.]
Letter of sugar-free products were also recorded, as were the number of products that did/did not contain added sugars Analyses included the number of products that contained 85% of their total energy content from sugar All categories contained products that were either ‘sugar-free’ or ‘no added sugar’ Water drinks had the highest proportion of beverages that contained 10% sugar The current study adds to this by comparing the sugar/ non-sugar content across five beverage categories available for consumption by children Of these, 90% of dairy/soy-based and carbonated water drink categories contained added sugars However, a slight downward trend emerges for the mean sugar content of fruit juices and carbonated soda drinks from the 2012 values.3 These reduced from 10.36 and 10.44 g/100 mL in 2012,3 to 9.8 and 8.7 g/100 mL in the current study The 2012 study did not report the number of sugar-free or no-added-sugar products within each category, therefore it is difficult to determine whether this minimal shift is due to a reduction in the amount of sugar added, or to manufacturers increasing the number of products that contain either non-nutritive or intense sweeteners Importantly, in an environment of high SSB availability, there is no equivalent data that tracks the intake of these beverages by NZ children NZ Guidelines for Healthy Eating for Children recommend a zero or less than once per week consumption of carbonated drinks,5 yet the most recent consumption data for NZ Children is sourced from the outdated 2002 National Children’s Nutrition Survey Clearly, further research is needed in this area, including the downstream effects that regulation versus voluntary reduction of SSB availability has on children’s SSB consumption and health indices Mexico, for example, has Table 1: Analysis of beverages from New Zealand supermarkets.1 Mean ± SD Carbohydrate content (g/100 mL) Sugar content (g/100 mL) % Carbohydrates (g) that are sugar (g)a Total energy (kj) % Total energy (kj) due to sugar (kj)b Number of Products (%) with 240 mLd Fruit Juices (n=256) Cordials (n=81) Dairy / Soy Based drinks (n=41) Waters (n=90) Carbonated Drinks (n=188) 10.5 ± 3.5a 9.8 ± 3.6a 92.4 ± 12.5a 186.9 ± 57.4a 88.0 ± 26.0a 6.8 ± 4.0b 6.6 ± 4.0b 96.2 ± 9.8b 124.2 ± 81.2b 85.6 ± 20.4a 9.2 ± 1.4c 8.2 ± 1.7c 90.3 ± 15.9a 287.5 ± 62.0c 49.5 ± 9.4b 3.2 ± 3.1d 2.9 ± 2.9d 90.1 ± 12.8a 56.5 ± 52.9d 94.4 ± 16.4a 8.9 ± 5.4c 8.7 ± 5.5c 92.4 ± 23.0a 149.3 ± 89.4e 87.8 ± 25.1 27 (10.5%) 142 (55.5%) (0.8%) 91 (35.5%) 167 (65.2%) 25 (30.1%) 15 (18.5%) 10 (12.3%) 56 (69.1%) 21 (25.9%) (4.9%) (18.5%) (0.0%) 37 (90.2%) 36 (87.8%) 69 (76.7%) (3.3%) 33 (36.7%) 33 (36.7%) 80 (88.8%) 68 (36.2%) 81 (43.1%) 19 (10.1%) 154 (81.9%) 174 (92.6%) a: Differing superscript letters within a given table row are significantly different from each other (p ≤ 0.005) b: Calculated from sugar (either natural or added)-containing products only c: Includes sugar, cane sugar, honey, glucose-fructose syrup, glucose, sucrose, fructose, and high fructose corn syrup d: Based on the United States FDA beverage guidelines4 Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health © 2017 Public Health Association of Australia Letter demonstrated positive population health benefits in adults following governmental regulation of the food/beverage industry.6 In contrast, NZ has a self-regulated industry and there are no current plans to impose any regulation on the SSB industry.7 Findings from the current study suggest that industry selfregulation is not working and that regulatory measures need to be legislated in order to decrease the availability of SSBs to children Acknowledgement The authors thank Dr Helen Eyles for providing the data set for analysis and Derek Christie for his assistance with the statistical analyses References Malik VS, Pan A, Willett WC, et al Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis Am J Clin Nutr 2013;98(4):1084-102 Sundborn G, Utter J, Teevale T, et al (2014) Carbonated beverages consumption among New Zealand youth and associations with BMI and waist circumference Pac Health Dialog 2014;20(1):81-6 Ni Mhurchu C, Eyles H Sweetened and unsweetened non-alcoholic beverages in New Zealand: Assessment of relative availability, price, serve size, and sugar content Pac Health Dialog 2014;20(1):51-8 U.S Food and Drug Administration Food Labeling: Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed Per Eating Occasion Silver Springs (MD): United States Department of Heath and Human Services; 2013 N Z Ministry of Health Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Children and Young People (Aged 2–18 years): A Background Paper [Internet] Wellington (NZ): Government of New Zealand; 2012 [cited 2016 Mar 16] Available from http://www.health.govt.nz World Health Organization Interventions on Diet and Physical Activity: What Works: Summary Report [Internet] Geneva (CHE): WHO; 2009 [cited 2016 Mar 25] Available from http://www.who.int/ dietphysicalactivity/summary-report-09.pdf N Z Ministry of Health Background Information on Evidence and Options for Interventions to Address Childhood Obesity in New Zealand [Internet] Wellington (NZ): Government of New Zealand; 2015 [cited 2016 Mar 25] Available from https://www.health.govt nz/system/files/documents/pages/hr_20151047_-_ attachment.pdf Correspondence to: Dr Lynne Chepulis, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Education and Humanities, Waiariki Institute of Technology, Rotorua, New Zealand; e-mail: lynne.chepulis@waiariki.ac.nz Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health © 2017 Public Health Association of Australia 2017 Online ... School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Education and Humanities, Waiariki Institute of Technology, Rotorua, New Zealand; e-mail: lynne.chepulis@waiariki.ac.nz Australian and New Zealand Journal of. .. Background Information on Evidence and Options for Interventions to Address Childhood Obesity in New Zealand [Internet] Wellington (NZ): Government of New Zealand; 2015 [cited 2016 Mar 25] Available... non-alcoholic beverages in New Zealand: Assessment of relative availability, price, serve size, and sugar content Pac Health Dialog 2014;20(1):51-8 U.S Food and Drug Administration Food Labeling: Reference