CSI is presenting at the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC, May 23-25, 2012

The Canadian Sugar Institute's Manager of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Tristin Brisbois, will participate in the research poster presentations at the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC. She will present Canadian Sugar Institute research on added sugars consumption trends in Canada. Please see the abstract below.

Estimated intakes of added sugars in Canada and relationship to trends in body weight
Tristin D. Brisbois, PhD and Sandra L. Marsden, MHSc, RD

Nutrition Information Service, Canadian Sugar Institute, Toronto, ON M5J 2R8

Consumption of added sugars in Canada is often reported to be higher than data suggest. This occurs for several reasons, including incorrectly citing unadjusted national food supply (availability) data as actual consumption, using total sugars consumption to describe added sugars intakes, and citing US data when describing Canadian eating habits. Sugar is defined as sucrose (from sugar cane or sugar beets). Sugars are defined as all monosaccharides and disaccharides, naturally occurring or added. Added sugarsare defined as all sugars added to foods (i.e., sugar, honey, maple syrup, and corn sweeteners). The purpose of this study was to estimate and trend added sugars consumption using both Statistics Canada availability data and Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) nutrition survey data. Statistics Canada publishes annual availability data on refined sugar, honey and maple sugars, but not corn sweeteners. Soft drink data provided an indirect estimate of corn sweetener availability. Consumption of added sugars was estimated by adjusting total availability of added sugars for retail, institutional and household losses. CCHS total sugars data were used to estimate added sugars consumption based on studies that have reported added sugars to account for approximately half of total sugars intake. The contribution of added sugars to total energy intake was also calculated. Results showed close agreement between the two methods; added sugars intakes were estimated to average 51 - 53 g/day and to contribute 10 - 13% of total energy. Added sugars intakes were also shown to be stable or modestly declining as a percent of total energy over the past 3 decades. Trends in sugars consumption plotted against obesity rates show an inverse correlation; this is consistent with current scientific literature, which does not support an association between body mass index and sugars consumption. Added sugars consumption in Canada is not increasing, contrary to common perception. Both availability data and nutrition survey data estimate added sugars to contribute approximately 10-13% of total daily Calories among Canadians.