Eat Too Much Sugar? Blame Your Ethnicity
Reported August 07, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates added sugar accounts for as much as 17 percent of U.S. daily calorie intake. Differences among race and ethnicity groups suggest that interventions aimed at reducing the intake of added sugars should be specially tailored to each group.
In a study of nearly 30,000 Americans, researchers reported that race, ethnicity, family income and educational status are independently associated with intake of added sugars. Groups with low income and education are particularly exposed to diets high in added sugars.
Using data from adults 18 years and older participating in the 2005 U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Cancer Control Supplement, investigators from the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, and Information Management Services, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, analyzed responses to questions about added sugars.
In men and women, intakes of added sugars were inversely related to education and family income. There were significant differences across race and ethnicity groups, with Asian-Americans having the lowest intake of added sugars and Hispanics with the next lowest. Among men, African-Americans had the highest intake, although white and American Indian and Alaskan Native men were also high. African-American women and American Indian and Alaskan Native women had the highest intake among women.
Frances E. Thompson, MPH, PhD, and colleagues are quoted as saying, “A major strength of the 2005 NHIS is its large and diverse sample, allowing examination of the independent effects of factors related to added sugars intake in a multivariate setting–the first such analysis with U.S. national data. In addition, it was possible to examine factors within subpopulations defined by race/ethnicity. The five subpopulations analyzed differ from each other in many respects, several of which are related to added sugars intake. Thus, the ability to disentangle independent effects allows for a fuller understanding of differences across race and ethnicity.”
The NHIS is a cross-sectional study conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ascertain a variety of self-reported health behaviors and conditions. Periodically, a Cancer Control Module (CCM) is included to obtain information pertinent to cancer researchers.
The 2005 CCM consisted of questions about diet, physical activity, tobacco use, sun exposure, cancer screening, genetic testing and family history of cancer. A limited number of questions about diet were included to allow characterization of the diets of subgroups of the population in terms of fruit and vegetable consumption, teaspoons of added sugar, grams of fiber, dairy servings, and calcium intake.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, August 2009
