Is Australia as sweet as Canada?


Wednesday, 18 January, 2017

Research from Public Health Ontario (PHO) and the University of Waterloo in Canada has found that two-thirds of packaged foods and drinks in Canada have added sugars.

More than 40,000 commonly available packaged foods and beverages, including some infant formulas and baby food products and many so-called ‘healthier’ foods such as yoghurt, juice, breakfast cereals and snack bars were analysed and 66% were found to have at least one added sugar in their ingredients list. The researchers searched for 30 different added sugar terms — everything from ‘sugar’ to dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose and fruit juice concentrate. Excluded from the analysis were fresh fruits or vegetables, fresh meat, raw ingredients (water, baking ingredients, coffee, tea, fats and oils, etc) and non-food items (such as natural health products or nutrition and protein supplements).

In this study, published in CMAJ Open, ‘added sugars’ were defined as all sugars added to foods by the manufacturer plus the sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. These naturally occurring sugars are considered ‘added sugars’ in this study because fibre slows down the absorption of sugar, and the fibre is removed during processing (eg, fruit juices) or is never present in these types of foods (eg, honey). Added sugars are particularly concerning as they tend to be consumed in much larger quantities than naturally occurring sugars found in foods such as bananas or a glass of milk. Added sugars can also be added to foods and beverages that normally contain little, if any, sugars, said the researchers.

All of the 40,829 packaged foods and beverages included in the study were available at national supermarket chains of a major Canadian grocery retailer.

“People may be surprised to learn how many packaged foods and beverages have sugars added to them, especially foods that most would consider ‘healthier’,” said Dr Erin Hobin, a scientist in PHO’s health promotion, chronic disease and injury prevention division and an author on the paper. “Added sugars were highest in the expected food products such as candy, sweet bakery products and soda pop. But we also found that the majority of products frequently marketed as ‘healthy’ options, like granola bars or yoghurt, also listed added sugars in their ingredients. In addition, almost half of all infant formulas and baby food we studied listed added sugars as part of their ingredients.”

This study provides a baseline snapshot of the added sugars in packaged products commonly found in grocery stores in Canada and it would be naive to assume the foods and beverages sold in Australian supermarkets would be vastly different. With most dietary guidelines recommending limiting added sugar intake to a maximum of 5–10% of daily calories consumed, the high prevalence of added sugars is concerning.

  • 66% of packaged food products analysed contained at least one added sugar in their ingredients list.
  • 86% of snacks and sweets listed at least one added sugar (2534 products examined).
  • 78.7% of beverages listed added sugars (3161 beverages tested).
  • 73.8 of yoghurts listed added sugars (1003 products examined).
  • 47.7% of infant formula and baby food products listed added sugars (530 products examined).
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