Sweeteners in Brazilian processed foods and beverages: prevalence, profile and concomitant addition of sugars and nutritional claims

Abstract

Brazil is experiencing an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity. To overcome these health problems, several strategies have been implemented, including incentives to reduce sugar intake and new packaging labeling. This has promoted an increase in the use of low or non-caloric sweeteners (LNCS). In this study, the use of LNCS in six Brazilian food groups (non-alcoholic beverages, dairy products, baked goods, confectionery, cereals, and condiments) was investigated through label declarations. Three supermarkets were visited in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Ten out of the 16 LNCS allowed by the Brazilian legislation were declared. Altogether, among the 441 products included, 17.7% contained at least one LNCS, with an average of 2.21 LNCS per sweetened product. Non-alcoholic beverages (37.2%) and dairy products (29.5%) had the highest LNCS occurrence. Combinations of two, three, four, and seven LNCS were found. Artificial sweeteners represented 87.8% of the declared LNCS, with a higher prevalence of acesulfame-K, followed by cyclamate, and sucralose, respectively. Meanwhile, 53.9% of 78 products containing LNCS also had added sugars, and 70.5% used nutritional claims about reduced sugars and/or calories. This scenario highlights the importance of continuous monitoring of LNCS in foods and beverages as front-of-package labeling is not fully implemented yet.

Keywords:

• Additives
• low and non-caloric sweeteners
• sugar
• food labeling
• sucralose

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Minas Gerais Research Funding Foundation (FAPEMIG), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for the financial support.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq [grant number 310551/2019].