A new study highlights that U.S. adults get nearly a quarter of their daily calories from snacks and account for one-third of their daily intake of added sugars. Snacks have little nutritional value and people with type 2 diabetes tend to have more unhealthy snacking habits, highlighting the need for dietary education.
Researchers analyzed survey data from more than 20,000 people and found that the average snack consumed by Americans every day contains about 400 to 500 calories, which is often higher than breakfast intake but has very low nutritional value.
While nutritionists are well aware of Americans' tendency to snack, "the magnitude of the impact was not realized until it was actually observed," said study senior author Christopher Taylor, a professor of medical nutrition in the Ohio State University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
"Snacks are a meal's worth of what we eat, and it's not really a meal," Taylor said. "You know what you're going to have for dinner: a protein, a side or two. But if you're snacking on a meal, it's a completely different story. It's usually carbs, sugar, not a lot of protein, not a lot of fruits and vegetables. So it's not a complete meal."
Diabetes and snacking habits
Research has also explored the relationship between snacking habits and diabetes. Survey participants who managed type 2 diabetes ate fewer sugary foods and snacked less than participants without diabetes and those whose blood sugar levels indicated prediabetes.
"Education on diabetes appears to be effective, but we may need to expand education to people at high risk for diabetes, or even people with normal blood sugar levels, to start improving eating behaviors before people develop chronic disease," Taylor said.
The research was recently published in PLOS Global Public Health.
Research methods and results
Researchers analyzed data from 23,708 U.S. adults over the age of 30 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2005 and 2016. The survey collected a 24-hour dietary recall from each respondent, detailing not only the amount of all food consumed, but also the time of consumption.
Respondents were divided into four categories based on their HbA1c levels, a measure of blood sugar control: non-diabetic, pre-diabetic, controlled diabetes and poorly controlled diabetes.
Across the entire survey sample, snacks accounted for 19.5% to 22.4% of total energy intake, but had low nutritional quality.
In descending order of proportion, snacks include high-carbohydrate and high-fat convenience foods, sweets, alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages including sugary drinks, protein, milk and dairy products, fruits, cereals, and, far behind, vegetables.
Taylor noted that recording food intake over a 24-hour period doesn't necessarily reflect people's usual eating habits, but "it gives us a real picture of what's going on in a large population, which can help us understand what's going on, where the nutritional gaps are, and what education we can provide."
Finding that people with diabetes have healthier snacking habits suggests that dietary education can be beneficial for people with diabetes. But it's information everyone can use -- and it means more than cutting back on sugar and carbs, Taylor said.
He said: "We need to move from reducing added sugar to a healthier snacking model, and although public opinion has reached the point of demonizing individual foods, we have to look at the big picture. Removing added sugar does not automatically increase the content of vitamin C, vitamin D, phosphorus and iron. If we remove refined grains, we will lose the nutrients in fortified foods. When you remove something, you have to put something back, and substitution is as important as removal."
Therefore, Taylor does not recommend what snacks everyone should eat, but emphasizes starting from the overall diet of the day to see if the snacks can meet our nutritional needs.
"Especially during the holidays, it's all about the environment and the food you have and planning accordingly. It's also about shopping behavior: What do we have at home?" he said. "We think about what to bring for lunch, what to make for dinner. But we don't plan snacks that way. So you're at the mercy of what's in the environment."
Reference: Kristen Heitman, Sara E. Thomas, Owen Kelly, Stephanie M. Fanelli, Jessica L. Krok-Schoen, Menghua Luo, and Christopher A. Taylor published an article in the journal PLOS Global Public Health on October 26, 2023: "Snacks contribute significantly to total dietary intake stratified by blood glucose in U.S. adults."
DOI:10.1371/journal.pgph.0000802
Compiled source: ScitechDaily