Trends in Sugar From Packaged Foods and Beverages Purchased by US Households Between 2002 and 2020

Abstract

Background: Excess sugar consumption is a public health concern in the United States. How sugar purchases have changed over time, whether there are disparities across subpopulations, and the contribution of various food groups are unclear.

Objective: To assess trends in sugar from packaged foods and beverages purchased by US households between 2002 and 2020.

Design: This is an open cohort study.

Participants/setting: We obtained data from the NielsenIQ U.S. Homescan Consumer Panel, which collects data on household purchases of all consumer packaged goods in 52 metropolitan and 24 non-metropolitan markets across the United States. We assessed data on food and beverage purchases for 1,163,447 household-years.

Main outcome measures: The primary outcomes are the total sugar in grams purchased per capita per day and percentage of calories from sugar, by sociodemographic group.

Statistical analyses performed: We used linear regression to estimate trends in total grams of sugar per capita per day, percentage of calories from sugar, and percentage of total sugar purchases by food or beverage group. We estimated means for select years and tested for significance compared with 2002 and with the previous timepoint and calculated the overall P-value for the linear trend using time series regression.

Results: Total sugar purchases decreased over the study period, both in absolute terms (-37.2 g/capita/day; 95% confidence interval [CI], -38.7, -35.6) and as a percentage of total calories purchased (-5.3 percentage points; 95% CI, -5.5, -5.2). Sugar purchases declined for all sociodemographic groups, but disparities have persisted or widened, particularly among individuals who are non-Hispanic Black, low-income, and with lower educational attainment. Beverages' contributions to sugar purchases decreased 8.1 percentage points (95% CI, -8.4, -7.8).

Conclusion: In the United States, purchases of sugar declined, but disparities by socioeconomic status and race or ethnicity persisted or widened. Policies to further reduce sugar consumption and the burden of diet-related disparities are needed.

Keywords: Diet disparities; Dietary sugars; Food purchases; Total sugars; Trends.