title: Dietary sugar intake and dietary behaviors in Korea: a pooled study of 2,599 children and adolescents aged 9-14 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dietary sugar intake, particularly added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages, has received worldwide attention recently. Investigation of dietary behaviors may facilitate understanding of dietary sugar intakes of children and adolescents. However, the relationship between dietary sugar intake and dietary behaviors in the Korean population has not been investigated. Thus, this study aimed to estimate dietary sugar intake and food sources according to sex as well as examine the relationship of dietary sugar intake with frequent snacking and dietary patterns among Korean children and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We pooled data from five studies involving Korean children and adolescents conducted from 2002 to 2011. A total of 2,599 subjects aged 9-14 years were included in this study. Each subject completed more than 3 days of dietary records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean daily total sugar intake was 46.6 g for boys and 54.3 g for girls. Compared with boys, girls showed higher sugar intakes from fruits (7.5 g for boys and 8.8 g for girls;P= 0.0081) and processed foods (27.9 g for boys and 34.9 g for girls;P< 0.0001). On average, 95.4% of boys and 98.8% of girls consumed snacks during the study period, and total sugar intake showed a significantly increasing trend with increasing energy intake from snacks (P< 0.0001 for both sexes). Two dietary patterns were identified by cluster analysis: Traditional and Westernized patterns. Total sugar intake was higher in the Westernized pattern (56.2 g for boys and 57.2 g for girls) than in the Traditional pattern (46.5 g for boys and 46.3 g for girls).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that multilateral and practical development of a nutrition education and intervention program that considers dietary behaviors as well as absolute sugar intake is required to prevent excessive sugar intake in Korean children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nutrition, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyungho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nutrition, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
authors.forename: Sangwon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nutrition, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyojee
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Joung
authors.affiliation: Major of Food and Nutrition, School of Human Ecology, The Catholic University of Korea, 43 Jibong-ro, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi 14662, Korea.
authors.forename: YoonJu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
keywords: Dietary sugar; Korean; dietary behavior; dietary pattern; snack