Julien Delarue

How much sugar do consumers add to plain yogurts? Insights from a study examining French consumer behavior and self-reported habits

In France, 50% of consumers sweeten plain yogurts prior to consumption. This study measured how much sugar consumers added under contextualized testing conditions. Participants (199 French adults who regularly consume plain yogurt adding sugar) were given a plain yogurt (125xa0g) at the end of a full meal and were allowed to sweeten it with their usual sweetener (caster sugar, honey, or jam). The quantities added were measured indirectly by weighing the sweetener containers before and after use; they were then converted into equivalent quantities of sucrose, or added sugar. Participants were asked to describe their relative hunger, thirst, and liking for plain yogurt and to estimate the quantity of sweetener they had added. On average, participants added 13.6xa0g of sugar to their yogurts, which is higher than the 10.2xa0g of sugar contained in pre-sweetened commercial yogurts (125xa0g). More sugar was added when subjects used jam (24.4xa0g/yogurt, nxa0=xa036) as opposed to caster sugar (11.0xa0g/yogurt, nxa0=xa0134) or honey (12.1xa0g/yogurt, nxa0=xa029). Age, socio-professional category, and BMI had a significant influence on added-sugar quantity. Based on behavior and attitude, participants could be separated into three evenly sized groups: low sugar users (nxa0=xa067, medianxa0=xa06.1xa0g/yogurt), who tended to control their food intake, medium sugar users (nxa0=xa066, medianxa0=xa011.4xa0g/yogurt), and heavy sugar users (nxa0=xa066, medianxa0=xa019.9xa0g/yogurt) who sought immediate satisfaction. To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide robust data on the amount of sugar consumers add to plain yogurts in contextualized conditions (self preparation during a real meal). Our findings show that consumers underestimated by half the quantity of sweetener they added.

The structure of a food product assortment modulates the effect of providing choice on food intake

Several authors showed that providing choice may increase food liking and food intake. However, the impact of choice may be modulated by assortments characteristics, such as the number of alternatives or their dissimilarity. The present study compared the impact of choice on food liking and intake under the two following conditions: (1) when choosing a product to consume from among similar products versus dissimilar products; and (2) when choosing a product to consume from among pleasant products versus unpleasant products. Two experiments were carried out using the same design: the apple puree experiment (nxa0=xa080), where the volunteers choose from among similar products (apple purees varying in texture) and the dessert experiment (nxa0=xa080), where the volunteers choose from among dissimilar products (fruit dessert, dairy dessert, custard, pudding). During the first session, participants rated their liking for 12 products (apples purees or desserts). Then the participants were divided into a pleasant group (nxa0=xa040) in which volunteers were assigned three pleasant products, and an unpleasant group (nxa0=xa040) in which volunteers were assigned three unpleasant products. Finally, all of the volunteers participated in a choice session - volunteers were presented with their three assigned products and asked to choose one of the products, and a no-choice session - volunteers were served with one product that was randomly selected from among their three assigned products. Providing choice led to an increase in food liking in both experiments and an increase in food intake only for the desserts, namely only when the volunteers chose the product to consume from among not too similar alternatives. No effect of assortments pleasantness was observed.

Sucrage des yaourts : diversité des comportements et impact sur les apports en sucres

Resume En France, environ 50% des yaourts nature sont sucres au moment de leur consommation. Une premiere etude observationnelle a permis didentifier la diversite des comportements de sucrage des yaourts (moment dajout du sucre, nombre de cuillerees, gestuelle…) dans un contexte reel de consommation dun repas pris en groupe. Une seconde etude sest ensuite interessee a la quantite exacte de sucres ajoutes individuellement par les consommateurs a un yaourt nature dans des conditions de tests contextualisees. Pour cela, 199 adultes ont recu, a la fin dun repas, un yaourt nature (125 g) dans lequel ils pouvaient ajouter lagent sucrant de leur choix (sucre en poudre, miel ou confiture). Les quantites dagents sucrants ajoutees ont ete mesurees indirectement puis exprimees en equivalent « sucres ajoutes ». En moyenne, les participants ont ajoute 13,6 g de sucres a leur yaourt, ce qui est plus eleve que la quantite moyenne contenue dans les yaourts presucres du commerce (10,2 g de sucres pour 125 g de yaourt). Une quantite plus importante a ete ajoutee lorsque les participants ont utilise de la confiture en comparaison avec le sucre en poudre ou le miel. Les parametres âge, categorie socioprofessionnelle (CSP) et indice de masse corporelle (IMC) ont eu une influence significative sur la quantite de sucres ajoutes. Les participants ont ete repartis en trois groupes selon la quantite de sucres quils avaient ajoutee, puis leurs usages et habitudes de consommation ont ete analyses : « les petits consommateurs de sucre » ont tendance a controler notamment leur consommation daliments sucres, « les consommateurs moyens » et « les grands consommateurs » ont cherche une satisfaction immediate. Les resultats montrent que dune maniere generale les consommateurs sous-estiment de moitie la quantite de sucres ajoutes a leur yaourt.

Acceptance of added fat to first complementary feeding purees: An exploration of fat type, feeding history and saliva composition

In adults, fat is a major determinant of food palatability. From the onset of complementary feeding (CF) adding fat to complementary foods is recommended to ensure an optimal growth and cognitive development. However, whether adding fat to complementary foods would impact acceptance (in terms of intake and liking) has been little investigated. This study sought 1) to evaluate acceptance of added fat (either vegetable oils or dairy fat) in a vegetable puree in weaning-age infants; 2) to determine whether early differential fat exposure through milk (breast milk and formula have different fat composition) and fat addition in complementary foods can influence acceptance and 3) to explore if fat acceptance can be related to inter-individual differences in salivary compounds potentially involved in fat perception. Twenty six infants with contrasted milk feeding history participated and were introduced with complementary foods at 4.8 months. During the 1st month of complementary feeding, acceptance of 3 broccoli purees (0% fat, 7% of vegetable oils, 7% of dairy fat) was determined through ad libitum intake and global liking, in the laboratory and at home. Saliva was collected: lipolytic activity and carbonic anhydrase 6 concentration were determined. Puree intakes were not impacted by fat addition, whatever the type of added fat. Moreover, the history of milk feeding (breast milk vs. vegetable oils based formulas) in the very first months did not explain acceptance for added fat. Finally, no links between intake and saliva composition were evidenced. Altogether, this study found that the addition of fat did not modify food acceptance by infants during early complementary feeding. Thus, future research should investigate the development of fat acceptance over experience in early infancy.