RESUMEN
Background: Dietary sodium has a dose-response relationship with cardiovascular disease, and sodium intake in Sweden exceeds national and international recommendations. Two thirds of dietary sodium intake comes from processed foods, and adults in Sweden eat more processed foods than any other European country. We hypothesized that sodium content in processed foods is higher in Sweden than in other countries. The aim of this study was to investigate sodium content in processed food items in Sweden, and how it differs from Australia, France, Hong Kong, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Methods: Data were collected from retailers by trained research staff using standardized methods. Data were categorized into 10 food categories and compared using Kruskal-Wallis test of ranks. Sodium content in the food items was compared in mg sodium per 100 g of product, based on the nutritional content labels on the packages. Results: Compared to other countries, Sweden had among the highest sodium content in the "dairy" and "convenience foods" categories, but among the lowest in "cereal and grain products," "seafood and seafood products" and "snack foods" categories. Australia had the overall lowest sodium content, and the US the overall highest. The highest sodium content in most analyzed countries was found in the "meat and meat products" category. The highest median sodium content in any category was found among "sauces, dips, spreads and dressings" in Hong Kong. Conclusion: The sodium content differed substantially between countries in all food categories, although contrary to our hypothesis, processed foods overall had lower sodium content in Sweden than in most other included countries. Sodium content in processed food was nonetheless high also in Sweden, and especially so in increasingly consumed food categories, such as "convenience foods".
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Sodio en la Dieta , Sodio , Adulto , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Alimentos Procesados , Estudios Transversales , Suecia , Sodio en la Dieta/análisisRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a major public health issue. The increase in the consumption of foods with poor nutritional value, such as processed foods, contributes to this. Breakfast cereals are often advertised as a healthy way to start the day, but the healthiness of these products varies greatly. OBJECTIVE: Our main objective was to gather information about the nutritional characteristics of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals in Sweden and to investigate the healthiness of products targeted at children compared to other cereals by use of the FoodSwitch platform. A secondary objective was to evaluate the alignment between the Keyhole symbol and the Health Star Rating. METHODS: The FoodSwitch app is a mobile health (mHealth) tool used to present nutrition data and healthier alternative products to consumers. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals from the largest Swedish grocery retailers were collected using the FoodSwitch platform. Products were defined as targeting children if they presented features addressing children on the package. RESULTS: Overall, information on 261 ready-to-eat cereals was examined. Of this total, 8% (n=21) were targeted at children. Child-targeted cereals were higher in sugar (22.3 g/100 g vs 12.8 g/100 g, P<.001) and lower in fiber (6.2 g/100 g vs 9.8 g/100 g, P<.001) and protein (8.1 g/100 g vs 10.5 g/100 g, P<.001). Total fat (3 g/100 g vs 10.5 g/100 g, P<.001) and saturated fat (0.8 g/100 g vs 2.6 g/100 g, P<.001) were also lower. No difference was found in salt content (P=.61). Fewer child-targeted breakfast cereals displayed an on-pack Keyhole label (n=1, 5% vs n=53, 22%; P=.06), and the mean Health Star Rating value was 3.5 for child-targeted cereals compared to others (mean 3.8, P=.07). A correlation was found between the Keyhole symbol and the Health Star Rating. CONCLUSIONS: Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals targeted at children were less healthy in terms of sugar and fiber content compared to products not targeted at children. There is a need to improve the nutritional quality of child-targeted cereals.
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Desayuno , Grano Comestible , Niño , Humanos , Estado Nutricional , Valor Nutritivo , SueciaRESUMEN
Processed food is associated with unhealthy qualities such as higher content of harmful fats, sugars and salt. The aim of our study was to compare the nutritional qualities of supermarket's own brands and regular brands of bread sold in Sweden. Additionally, we compared the nutritional qualities of gluten-free and gluten-containing bread. We collected information from the labels of 332 bread products available in the largest grocery store chains. The Australian Health Star Rating (HSR) system was used to quantify the nutritional quality of each bread product. We compared all supermarket's own brand products to regular brand products, and gluten-free to gluten-containing bread. The mean HSR for the supermarket's own brands was lower than the regular brands (3.6 vs. 3.7; p = 0.046). For the regular brand products, the fibre, sugar and total fat content were greater (p < 0.001, p = 0.002 and p = 0.021, respectively), while less protein (p = 0.009) compared to regular bread products. Gluten-free bread had a lower HSR than gluten-containing bread (mean 3.5 vs. 3.8, respectively; p < 0.001). The regular brand products were slightly healthier than the supermarket's own brands, primarily as a result of a higher fibre content. Gluten-free bread products were slightly unhealthier due to a lower protein content.