Estimating the Sugars Content of Diets that Follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide.

PURPOSE: This research aimed to estimate the percent energy (%E) contribution from total and free sugars in the Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide (CFG) dietary pattern.

METHODS: The sugar-containing foods in the Canadian Nutrient File were assigned to 1 of 2 categories: total sugars or free sugars based on the source. The total sugars content of foods containing any amount of free sugars was assigned to the free sugars category. We estimated free sugars content from 8000 simulated diets (500 for each of the 16 age and sex groups), consistent with the CFG dietary pattern. Descriptive statistics were used to examine distributions of %E from total and free sugars by age and sex.

RESULTS: The mean %E from total and free sugars of all simulated diets was 21%E and 7%E, respectively. For simulated diets for males and females, 9-18 years of age, the %E from free sugars exceeded 10% at the 75th percentile. Simulated diets for all other age and sex groups exceeded 10%E from free sugars at the 95th percentile.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the simulated CFG diets met the WHO recommendations to limit free sugars consumption to <10%E. These results will be used to inform future dietary guidance policy development.