Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 28;13(6):1845.
doi: 10.3390/nu13061845.

Low- and No-Calorie Sweetener (LNCS) Consumption Patterns Amongst the Spanish Adult Population

Marina Redruello-Requejo  1   2 , María González-Rodríguez  1   2 , Mª de Lourdes Samaniego-Vaesken  1   2 , Ana Montero-Bravo  1   2 , Teresa Partearroyo  1   2 , Gregorio Varela-Moreiras  1   2
Affiliations

Low- and No-Calorie Sweetener (LNCS) Consumption Patterns Amongst the Spanish Adult Population

Marina Redruello-Requejo et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) are a group of food additives characterized by their high sweetness intensity and virtually zero caloric content, attributes that make them potential substitutes for added sugars in processed foods and beverages. However, there is currently scarce information available about both the different LNCS used in food products available in Spain and their consumption patterns. Prompted by these reasons, the aim of this research work was to identify the presence and consumption of LNCS in food and beverages consumed by a representative sample of the Spanish adult population (n = 507). For this purpose, a Food Frequency Questionnaire was carried out. Overall, it was found that 4.5% of the foods and 22.3% of the beverages consumed by the surveyed population contained LNCS. The food groups that presented the highest percentage of daily servings containing LNCS were non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks and juices (36.1%); sugars and sweets such as chocolates, candies, or chewing gum (14.2%); milk and dairy products (7.0%); meat and derivative products (5.1%); cereals and derivatives (4.3%); appetizers (1.7%); and, finally, sauces and condiments such as ketchup or mustard (1.0%). The main LNCS consumed were acesulfame-K, sucralose, sorbitol, aspartame, and cyclamate, although their prevalence of use differs greatly among foods, beverages, or tabletop sweeteners. Our results show the great diversity of food groups that are currently including these compounds as ingredients. Consequently, there is a need for these food additives to be included in food composition databases, which should be regularly updated to include LNCS in order to facilitate their assessment and monitoring in dietary nutritional surveys.

Keywords: Spain; added sugars; beverages; dietary patterns; food additives; foods; low- and no-calorie sweeteners.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consumption of low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) by the Spanish sample population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Presence of low- and-no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) in all food products contributing to LNCS consumption. * LNCS found was sorbitol, for which the declared use was not as a sweetener but as humectant or as stabilizer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Consumption of low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) expressed as a percentage of daily servings consumed with that particular LNCS with respect to the total daily servings consumed with LNCS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. EFSA Panel on Nutrition Novel Foods and Food Allergens Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to intense sweeteners and contribution to the maintenance or achievement of a normal body weight (ID 1136, 1444, 4299), reduction of post-prandial glycaemic responses (ID 4298), maintenance of normal blood glucose concentrations (ID 1221, 4298), and maintenance of tooth mineralisation by decreasing tooth demineralisation (ID 1134, 1167, 1283) pursuant to Article 13 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA J. 2011;9:2229.
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Controlling the Global Obesity Epidemic. [(accessed on 20 April 2020)]; Available online: https://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/obesity/en/
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2002. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases.
    1. Ministerio de Sanidad, Seguridad Sociale Igualdad. Agencia Española de Consumo, Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición . Plan de Colaboración Para la Mejora de la Composición de Alimentos y Bebidas y Otras Medidas 2017–2020. Ministerio de Sanidad, Seguridad Sociale Igualdad; Madrid, Spain: 2015.
    1. Dunford E.K., Taillie L.S., Miles D.R., Eyles H., Tolentino-Mayo L., Ng S.W. Non-Nutritive Sweeteners in the Packaged Food Supply-An Assessment across 4 Countries. Nutrients. 2018;10:257. doi: 10.3390/nu10020257. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources