Abstract

Overconsumption of sugar is a common problem among younger generations, and it is linked to various health issues, such as childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, which have been on the rise over the last 30 years. The high consumption of sugars in Americans’ diets is common despite multiple organizations’ recommendations to limit daily intake of sugars. Two common recommendations are from the United State’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) that recommends a limit of 25% of calories from added sugar, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that recommends a limit of 35% of weight from total sugars. However, products that meet one criteria may not meet another. This study compares the percentage of products marketed to children that exceed various recommended limits of sugars. Among products marketed to children, many are processed and contain various additives to preserve freshness or to add color. Concern over artificial food dyes has risen over the last few decades due to studies showing frequently-used food dyes to have harmful effect, such as hyperactivity, cancer, and allergic reactions. In 2008, because of the problem of hyperactivity, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of these dyes. This research will examine the amount of food dyes in products marketed to children. Since artificial food dyes are commonly used in products with poor-nutritional value, this research also examined if there is an association of artificial food dye and higher level of sugars. Categories with the largest number of products was used for this analysis including: drinks (165 products), breakfast cereals (137), canned or packaged pastas (122), packaged cakes and cookies (102), poptart and frozen pastries (53), prepackaged lunches (44), and fruit snacks (43). Of these products, 47.22% exceed the 25% of calories coming from sugars recommendation and 17.59% exceed the 35% of weight from total sugars recommendation. Out of the products marketed to children used in this analysis (665), a total of 312 (47.92%) were considered to have a high (≥ 22.5g) sugar content and of those, 158 (50.64%) contained an artificial food dye. Out of the products marketed to children used in this analysis, 286 (43.01%) contained one or more artificial food dyes. Products high in sugars are more likely to contain artificial food dyes than products containing low/medium levels of sugar, an association that is statistically significant according to a Chi-Square test of proportions (p=0.02).

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