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Dietary sources of free sugars in the diet of European children: the IDEFICS Study

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Abstract

Objective

To report dietary free sugars consumption and their different types and food sources in European children.

Methods

The present study is based on the IDEFICS study, a European multicenter cohort study in children (2–9 years old) from eight countries, comprising 8308 children (51.4% males). Dietary intake of the previous 24 h was assessed using a computer-assisted 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) and the different types of sugars were assessed using the German food composition database.

Results

Mean total energy intake was 1720 (SD 477) kcal/d for boys and 1631 (SD 451) kcal/d for girls. Total sugars intake was 98 (SD 52) g/day for boys and 93 (SD 49) g/day for girls. Free sugars intake was 81 (SD 49) g/day for boys and 77 (SD 47) g/day for girls. Girls had significantly lower intakes of energy, total and free sugars compared with than boys but did not differ in terms of percent of energy from total (23%) or free sugars (18%). There were large variations between countries in average % energy from free sugars (ranging from 13% in Italy to 27% in Germany). Less than 20% of children were within the recommended intake of 10% of energy from free sugars. The food groups that contributed substantially to free sugars intakes were “Fruit juices”, “Soft drinks”, “Dairy” and “Sweets and candies”.

Conclusions

The contribution of free sugars to total energy intake in European children is higher than recommendations. The main food contributors to free sugars intake are sweetened beverages (“Fruit juices” and “Soft drinks”). It is especially important to reduce children’s intake of free sugars, focusing in target population on certain foods and food groups.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the IDEFICS study (http://www.idefics.eu). We are grateful for the support provided by school boards, headmasters and communities. We thank the IDEFICS children and their parents for participating in this extensive examination.

Funding

This study was supported by the European Commission within the Sixth RTD Framework Programme Contract no. 016181 (FOOD) and by the grant from EU for the IDEFICS study. This analysis was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (JCI-2010-07055) with the contribution of the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The study is supported by a grant from the Spanish Carlos III Health Institute: RD08/0072/0025 (Red SAMID: Maternal, Child Health and Development Research Network) and CIBEROBN. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Growth, Exercise, NUtrition and Development (GENUD) Research Group, University of Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Saragossa, Spain

    María Isabel Mesana Graffe & L. A. Moreno

  2. Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), Saragossa, Spain

    María Isabel Mesana Graffe & L. A. Moreno

  3. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Saragossa, Spain

    María Isabel Mesana Graffe & L. A. Moreno

  4. Red de Salud Materno-infantil y del Desarrollo (SAMID), Barakaldo, Spain

    María Isabel Mesana Graffe

  5. Epidemiology and Prevention Unit, Department of Research, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Dei Tumori, Milan, Italy

    V. Pala

  6. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    S. De Henauw

  7. Section for Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Institute of Medicine Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    G. Eiben

  8. Department of Biomedicine and Public Health, School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

    G. Eiben

  9. Research and Education Institute of Child Health, Strovolos, Cyprus

    C. Hadjigeorgiou

  10. Laboratory of Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy

    L. Iacoviello

  11. Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology, BIPS, Bremen, Germany

    T. Intemann & H. Jilani

  12. Institute for Public Health and Nursing– IPP, Bremen University, Bremen, Germany

    T. Intemann & H. Jilani

  13. Department of Paediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, Pecs, Hungary

    D. Molnar

  14. Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    P. Russo

  15. National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia

    T. Veidebaum

  16. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Madrid, Spain

    L. A. Moreno

Authors
  1. María Isabel Mesana Graffe
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  2. V. Pala
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  4. G. Eiben
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Contributions

All authors contributed to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis or interpretation of data. Each author has seen and approved the contents of the submitted manuscript. Final approval of the version published was given by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Isabel Mesana Graffe.

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The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The content of this article reflects only the author’s views and the European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

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Graffe, M.I.M., Pala, V., De Henauw, S. et al. Dietary sources of free sugars in the diet of European children: the IDEFICS Study. Eur J Nutr 59, 979–989 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-019-01957-y

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