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. 2021 Aug 3;8(8):676.
doi: 10.3390/children8080676.

Dietary Sugar Intake and Its Association with Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Emmanuella Magriplis  1 , George Michas  1 , Evgenia Petridi  2 , George P Chrousos  3 , Eleftheria Roma  3 , Vassiliki Benetou  4 , Nikos Cholopoulos  5 , Renata Micha  6   7 , Demosthenes Panagiotakos  8 , Antonis Zampelas  1
Affiliations

Dietary Sugar Intake and Its Association with Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Emmanuella Magriplis et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Sugar intake has been associated with increased prevalence of childhood overweight/obesity; however, results remain controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the probability of overweight/obesity with higher sugar intakes, accounting for other dietary intakes. Data from 1165 children and adolescents aged ≥2-18 years (66.8% males) enrolled in the Hellenic National Nutrition and Health Survey (HNNHS) were used; specifically, 781 children aged 2-11 years and 384 adolescents 12-18 years. Total and added sugar intake were assessed using two 24 h recalls (24 hR). Foods were categorized into specific food groups to evaluate the main foods contributing to intakes. A significant proportion of children (18.7%) and adolescents (24.5%) exceeded the recommended cut-off of 10% of total energy intake from added sugars. Sweets (29.8%) and processed/refined grains and cereals (19.1%) were the main sources of added sugars in both age groups, while in adolescents, the third main contributor was sugar-sweetened beverages (20.6%). Being overweight or obese was 2.57 (p = 0.002) and 1.77 (p = 0.047) times more likely for intakes ≥10% of total energy from added sugars compared to less <10%, when accounting for food groups and macronutrient intakes, respectively. The predicted probability of becoming obese was also significant with higher total and added-sugar consumption. We conclude that high consumption of added sugars increased the probability for overweight/obesity among youth, irrespectively of other dietary or macronutrient intakes.

Keywords: added sugars; adolescents; children; dietary intake; overweight and obesity; total sugars.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total sugar contribution in children and adolescents, in total sample and by sex. (a). All children and adolescents; (b). boys; (c). girls.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Main food groups contributors to added sugar intake in children and adolescents.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Predicted probability of being overweight/obese for children and adolescents by total- and added-sugar intake. (a) Accounting for food groups. (b) Accounting for macronutrient intake.; values in red represent predicted probability when consuming added sugars ≥10% of energy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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