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Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals

Excessive free-sugar intake has become highly prevalent in numerous countries, and Portugal is not the exception. One product category that contributes to the daily intake of free sugars is breakfast cereals. In the current work, we identified 289 exemplars from two major retailers in Portugal and c...

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Autores principales: Prada, Marília, Saraiva, Magda, Viegas, Claúdia, Cavalheiro, Bernardo P., Garrido, Margarida Vaz
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8229424/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34071159
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13061841
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author Prada, Marília
Saraiva, Magda
Viegas, Claúdia
Cavalheiro, Bernardo P.
Garrido, Margarida Vaz
author_facet Prada, Marília
Saraiva, Magda
Viegas, Claúdia
Cavalheiro, Bernardo P.
Garrido, Margarida Vaz
author_sort Prada, Marília
collection PubMed
description Excessive free-sugar intake has become highly prevalent in numerous countries, and Portugal is not the exception. One product category that contributes to the daily intake of free sugars is breakfast cereals. In the current work, we identified 289 exemplars from two major retailers in Portugal and collected information on their nutritional profile (e.g., sugar, salt, fiber per 100 g), price, packaging features, type of food claims present (e.g., statements about the composition, sensory features, the origin of the product), and ingredients list. Overall, the sugar content of breakfast cereals was high (Mean = 19.9 g), and less than 10% of the products complied with the current national guidelines (i.e., 5 g of sugar per 100 g of product). Sugar (or other sugar sources) was listed in the top three ingredients for over 85% of the products. On average, each product included about four claims (Mean = 3.9), and sugar content was lower when the claims were related to the product composition. Critically, the sugar content was particularly high for children-oriented products (Mean = 26.4 g). Correlation analysis showed that breakfast cereals with higher sugar content also were cheaper and had lower quantities of fiber, proteins, and salt. Our findings suggest the need to implement strategies to reduce sugar in this product category (e.g., incentivize manufacturers to reformulate products). Also, our results may inform strategies aimed at promoting consumers’ awareness about the sugar content in breakfast cereals and other processed foods, facilitating healthier decision-making.
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spelling pubmed-82294242021-06-26 Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals Prada, Marília Saraiva, Magda Viegas, Claúdia Cavalheiro, Bernardo P. Garrido, Margarida Vaz Nutrients Article Excessive free-sugar intake has become highly prevalent in numerous countries, and Portugal is not the exception. One product category that contributes to the daily intake of free sugars is breakfast cereals. In the current work, we identified 289 exemplars from two major retailers in Portugal and collected information on their nutritional profile (e.g., sugar, salt, fiber per 100 g), price, packaging features, type of food claims present (e.g., statements about the composition, sensory features, the origin of the product), and ingredients list. Overall, the sugar content of breakfast cereals was high (Mean = 19.9 g), and less than 10% of the products complied with the current national guidelines (i.e., 5 g of sugar per 100 g of product). Sugar (or other sugar sources) was listed in the top three ingredients for over 85% of the products. On average, each product included about four claims (Mean = 3.9), and sugar content was lower when the claims were related to the product composition. Critically, the sugar content was particularly high for children-oriented products (Mean = 26.4 g). Correlation analysis showed that breakfast cereals with higher sugar content also were cheaper and had lower quantities of fiber, proteins, and salt. Our findings suggest the need to implement strategies to reduce sugar in this product category (e.g., incentivize manufacturers to reformulate products). Also, our results may inform strategies aimed at promoting consumers’ awareness about the sugar content in breakfast cereals and other processed foods, facilitating healthier decision-making. MDPI 2021-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8229424/ /pubmed/34071159 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13061841 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Prada, Marília
Saraiva, Magda
Viegas, Claúdia
Cavalheiro, Bernardo P.
Garrido, Margarida Vaz
Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title_full Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title_fullStr Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title_full_unstemmed Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title_short Examining the Relationship between Sugar Content, Packaging Features, and Food Claims of Breakfast Cereals
title_sort examining the relationship between sugar content, packaging features, and food claims of breakfast cereals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8229424/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34071159
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13061841
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