Sugar and total energy content of household food purchases in Brazil.
OBJECTIVE
To study the role of energy derived from sugar (both table sugar and sugar added to processed foods) in the total energy content of food purchases in Brazil.


METHODS
Food purchase data were collected during a national household budget survey carried out between June 2002 and July 2003 on a probabilistic sample representative of all households in the country. The amount of food purchased in this 12-month period was transformed into energy and energy from sugar using food composition tables. Multiple linear regression models were used to study the association between amount of energy from sugar and total energy content of food purchases, controlling for sociodemographic variables and potential interactions between these variables and sugar purchases.


RESULTS
There was a positive and significant association between energy from sugar and total household energy purchases. A 1 kJ increase in sugar purchase corresponded to a 3.637 kJ increase in total energy. In the absence of expenditure on meals outside the home, i.e. when household food purchases tend to approximate actual food consumption by household members, sugar purchase of 1926.35 kJ/d (the 90th percentile of the distribution of sugar purchases in Brazil) was associated, depending on income strata, with total energy purchase over 40-60 % of the recommended daily value for energy intake in Brazil.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results corroborate the recommendations of the WHO and the Brazilian Ministry of Health regarding limiting the consumption of sugar.
Levy
Renata Bertazzi
RB
Núcleo de Investigação em Nutrição, Instituto de Saúde, Secretaria do Estado de Saúde de São Paulo (IS/SES), São Paulo, Brazil.
Claro
Rafael Moreira
RM
Monteiro
Carlos Augusto
CA
D001938:Brazil; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics; D002149:Energy Intake; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models
D019422:Dietary Sucrose