Consumption patterns of sweetened food and drink products in a Catholic Middle Eastern Canadian community

Abstract

Objective: The present study describes the consumption patterns of sweetened food and drink products in a Catholic Middle Eastern Canadian community and examines its associations with physical activity, sedentary behaviours and BMI.

Design: A two-stage cross-sectional design was used. In Stage 1 (n 42), 24 h recalls enabled the identification of sweetened products. In Stage 2 (n 192), an FFQ was administered to measure the daily consumption of these products and to collect sociodemographic and behavioural data. Sweetened products were defined as processed culinary ingredients and ultra-processed products for which total sugar content exceeded 20% of total energy.

Setting: Three Catholic Middle Eastern churches located in Montreal, Canada.

Subjects: Normoglycaemic men and women (18-60 years old).

Results: Twenty-six sweetened products represented an average consumption of 75·4 g total sugars/d or 15·1% of daily energy intake (n 190, 56% women). Soft drinks, juices, sweetened coffee, chocolate, cookies, cakes and muffins were the main sources of consumption and mostly consumed between meals. Age (exp (β) = 0·99; P < 0·01), physical activity (exp (β) = 1·08; P < 0·01) and recreational computer use (exp (β) = 1·17; P < 0·01) were independently associated with sweetened product consumption. The association between sweetened product consumption and physical activity was U-shaped. BMI was not significantly associated with sweetened product consumption but all participants regardless of BMI were above the WHO recommendation for free sugars.

Conclusions: Being physically active and spending less time using a computer may favour a reduced consumption of sweetened products. Very active individuals may, however, overconsume such products.