The Contribution of Major Food Categories and Companies to Household Purchases of Added Sugar in Australia.

Abstract Background The Australian Government will soon be releasing a series of sugar reformulation targets for packaged foods. Objective To estimate the amount of added sugar purchased from packaged food and beverages and the relative contribution that food categories and food companies made to these purchases in 2018. The secondary objective was to examine differences in purchases of added sugar across income levels. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants/setting We used 1 year of grocery purchase data from a nationally representative panel of Australian households (the NielsenIQ Homescan panel), combined with a packaged food and beverage database (FoodSwitch). Main outcome measures Added sugar purchases (grams per day per capita), purchase-weighted added sugar content (grams per 100 g) and total weight of products (with added sugar) purchased (grams per day per capita). Statistical analyses performed Food categories and food companies were ranked according to their contribution to added sugar purchases. Differences in added sugar purchases by income levels were assessed by 1-factor analysis of variance. Results Added sugar information was available from 7188 households and across 26,291 unique foods and beverages. On average, the amount of added sugar acquired from packaged foods and beverages was (mean ± SE) 35.9 ± 0.01 g/d per capita. Low-income households purchased 11.0 g/d (95% CI: 10.9-11.0 g/d, P Conclusions The Australian Government can strengthen their proposed sugar reduction program by adding further category-specific targets, prioritizing engagement with key food companies and considering a broader range of policies to reduce added sugar intakes across the Australian population.