4364.0.55.011 - Australian Health Survey: Consumption of added sugars, 2011-12

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/04/2016 First Issue

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DIETARY ENERGY FROM FREE SUGARS

Dietary energy is sourced from the macronutrient components of the diet and may include the energy from fat, alcohol, protein, fibre and carbohydrate (including sugars and starch). In 2011-12, Australians derived an average of 10.9% of their dietary energy from free sugars, exceeding the WHO recommendation that both adults and children consume less than 10% of energy from free sugars.^1,2 Just over half (52%) of the population usually exceeded the recommendation, with the highest rates among child and teenage groups. Close to three-quarters of 9-13 and 14-18 year olds usually derived 10% or more of their dietary energy intake from free sugars, with the top 10% of this age group usually consuming at least 23% of energy from free sugars – over twice the recommendation. Males and females aged 51 to 70 years were the least likely to exceed the recommendation (38% of males and 35% of females this age).

This graph shows the proportion of people with 10 per cent or more of total energy from free sugars for persons aged 2 years and over. Data is based on usual intake from 2011-12 NNPAS.

(a) Usual Intake. See Glossary for definition.
Source: National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 2011-12

The WHO have also made a further conditional recommendation that free sugar intakes be reduced to below 5% of total energy intake.¹ Overall, nine out of ten people (89%) exceeded this recommendation, with the most likely to exceed being children and teenagers (aged between 4 and 18 years) where almost all (97%) usually derived 5% or more of their energy from free sugars. Adults aged 51-70 year olds were least likely to exceed the recommendation with 81% consuming 5% or more of total energy from free sugars.

This graph shows the usual proportion of enegy from free sugars (selected percentiles) for persons aged 2 years and over. Data is based on usual intake from 2011-12 NNPAS.

(a) Usual Intake. See Glossary for definition.
Source: National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 2011-12

ENDNOTES

1 World Health Organization, 2015, Guideline: Sugars intake for adults and children, Geneva: WHO, <http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/149782/1/9789241549028_eng.pdf>, Last accessed 19/04/2016.

2 The percentage of energy from free and added sugars was estimated by multiplying each gram of free and added sugars by a conversion factor of 16 to determine the kilojoules of energy.