Dietary Intake of Individual (Intrinsic and Added) Sugars and Food Sources from Spanish Children Aged One to <10 Years—Results from the EsNuPI Study

Abstract

Currently, in Spain there are no studies assessing the intakes and sources of intrinsic and added sugars by both children consuming standard milks and children regularly consuming adapted milk formulas. Our goal was to evaluate current sugar intake levels (intrinsic and added) and their major dietary sources within the EsNuPI study participants by applying two 24-h dietary recalls that were completed by 1448 children (1 to <10 years) divided into two subsamples: One “Spanish Reference Sample” (SRS) of the general population (n = 707) and another sample which included children consuming adapted milks including follow-on milk, toddler’s or growing up milk and fortified and enriched milks, here called “Adapted Milk Consumers Sample” (AMS) (n = 741). Estimates of intrinsic and added sugar intakes from the Spanish EsNuPI population as well as the adherence to recommendations varied notably according to age segment, but no major differences between subsamples were found. Younger children (1 to <3 years) showed the highest added sugar contribution to total energy intake (TEI) (SRS: 12.5% for boys and 11.7% for girls; AMS: 12.2% for boys and 11.3% for girls) and the lowest adherence to recommendations set at <10% TEI (SRS: 27.4% for boys and 37.2% for girls; AMS: 31.3% for boys and 34.7% for girls). Adherence increased with age but remains inadequate, with approximately one in two children from the older age segment (6 to <10 years) exceeding the recommendations. Main food sources of intrinsic sugars for both subsamples were milk and dairy products, fruits, vegetables and cereals, while for added sugars, these were milk and dairy products (mainly yogurts), sugars and sweets (mainly sugary cocoa and nougat), bakery products (mainly cookies) and cereals (mainly bread and wheat flour). However, for the AMS, the groups milk and dairy products and cereals showed a significantly lower contribution to intrinsic sugar intake but a significantly higher contribution to that of added sugars. These results demonstrate that sugar intake and the adherence to recommendations in the studied population varied notably according to age but not to the type of milk consumed. In addition, our results highlight the need to monitor the consumption of added sugars by the infant population, as well as the need to make efforts to facilitate this task, such as harmonizing the recommendations regarding free/added sugars and the inclusion of information on their content on the nutritional labeling of products in order to incorporate them into food composition databases.