Consumer heterogeneity in sugar consumption with special reference to fat and cholesterol intake

Abstract

Consumers make dietary choices based on information they have. This study examines consumer choice of food products considering the healthfulness of multiple nutrients. We focus on high levels of sugars because higher levels of intake are associated with adverse health and nutritional outcomes. We find an important association of sugar consumption with the healthfulness of a diet based on saturated fat intake and cholesterol intake. Consumers making healthier choices in one nutrient are not making healthier choices on other nutrients. Our results suggest that individuals who were making better dietary choices based on saturated fats were consuming more sugars. This could indicate challenges with the existing standard nutrition label as an information tool towards making healthful choices on multiple nutrients.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Sugars
• cholesterol
• fat
• nutrition economics
• healthy diet
• healthy dietary choice

Notes

Acknowledgements

Valuable comments and suggestions from Kathy Baylis, Karen Chapman-Novakofski, Craig Gundersen, Charles Nelson and Laurian Unnevehr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are gratefully acknowledged. Excellent editorial comments from Maria Crawford have improved the writing, and we are thankful to her.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The recommendation is not to exceed 25% of total energy intake.

2 Numbers not shown in the tables.