Proportions and types of different sweeteners in the Hungarian packaged food supply

Abstract Branded food databases facilitate the analysis of sweetener use in commercial packaged food products. The purpose of this study was to map the use of sweeteners in relevant packaged food categories and to assess and compare the nutrient profile of non-sugar (including sugar alcohol) vs. added sugar sweetened food products in Hungary. The foodDB software, developed by University of Oxford, enables automated online data collection, and was used to compile data of all foods and drinks available from four major Hungarian supermarket websites, selected by market share in March 2021. Only products containing either added sugar and/or non-sugar sweeteners were included in the study. These were categorized into 12 food groups using specific search terms. After data cleaning the final product number was 2016. 72% of the products was sweetened with added sugars only, 15% of them with non-sugar sweeteners only and 13% contained both sugars and non-sugar sweeteners. Chewing gums (92%), soft drinks (60%), energy drinks (50%) and pickles (35%) contained non-sugar sweeteners in the largest proportion. More than 90% of flavoured alcoholic beers, chocolate bars, breakfast cereals and yogurts were sweetened with added sugar only. Nine categories included food items containing multiple non-sugar sweeteners per product. The most common non-sugar sweeteners were acesulfame-potassium, sucralose, aspartame present in 15%, 10%, 9% of the total products respectively. Muesli bars with non-sugar sweeteners contained less energy but also less fibre than muesli bars with added sugars only; whereas pickles with non-sugar sweeteners contained less energy but were significantly higher in salt than those products with added sugars only. The presence of non-sugar sweeteners is widespread in the Hungarian food supply; however, their use does not guarantee a more beneficial nutrient profile. Branded food databases are useful tools to analyse the nutrient composition of packaged foods. Key messages • Branded food databases are useful tools to monitor the composition of the packaged food supply. • The nutrition profile of foods with non-sugar sweeteners can be less favourable than foods with added sugars.