The Contribution of Major Food Categories and Companies to Household Purchases of Added Sugar in Australia

Abstract

Background: The Australian Government will soon be releasing a series of sugar reformulation targets for packaged foods.

Objective: To estimate the amount of added sugar purchased from packaged food and beverages and the relative contribution that food categories and food companies made to these purchases in 2018. The secondary objective was to examine differences in purchases of added sugar across income levels.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants/setting: We used 1 year of grocery purchase data from a nationally representative panel of Australian households (the NielsenIQ Homescan panel), combined with a packaged food and beverage database (FoodSwitch).

Main outcome measures: Added sugar purchases (grams per day per capita), purchase-weighted added sugar content (grams per 100 g) and total weight of products (with added sugar) purchased (grams per day per capita).

Statistical analyses performed: Food categories and food companies were ranked according to their contribution to added sugar purchases. Differences in added sugar purchases by income levels were assessed by 1-factor analysis of variance.

Results: Added sugar information was available from 7188 households and across 26,291 unique foods and beverages. On average, the amount of added sugar acquired from packaged foods and beverages was (mean ± SE) 35.9 ± 0.01 g/d per capita. Low-income households purchased 11.0 g/d (95% CI: 10.9-11.0 g/d, P < .001) more added sugar from packaged products than high-income households per capita. The top 10 food categories accounted for 82.2% of added sugar purchased, largely due to purchases of chocolate and sweets, soft drinks, and ice cream and edible ices. Out of 994 food companies, the top 10 companies contributed to 62.1% of added sugar purchases.

Conclusions: The Australian Government can strengthen their proposed sugar reduction program by adding further category-specific targets, prioritizing engagement with key food companies and considering a broader range of policies to reduce added sugar intakes across the Australian population.

Keywords: Added sugar; Food policy; Packaged food supply; Public health; Reformulation.