US Adults’ Daily Snacks Equal a Full Meal’s Calories
By OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Researchers analyzing data from surveys of over 20,000
people found that Americans averaged about 400 to 500 calories in snacks a day
– often more than what they consumed at breakfast – that offered little
nutritional value.
Though dietitians are very aware of Americans’ propensity
to snack, “the magnitude of the impact isn’t realized until you actually look
at it,” said senior study author Christopher Taylor, professor of medical
dietetics in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State
University.
“Snacks are contributing a meal’s worth of intake to what we eat without it actually being a meal,” Taylor said.
“You know what dinner is going to be: a protein, a side dish or two. But if you eat a meal of what you eat for snacks, it becomes a completely different scenario of, generally, carbohydrates, sugars, not much protein, not much fruit, not a vegetable. So it’s not a fully well-rounded meal.”
Diabetes and Snacking Habits
The study also explores snacking habits in relation to
diabetes. Survey participants who were controlling their type 2 diabetes ate
fewer sugary foods and snacked less overall than participants without diabetes
and those whose blood sugar levels indicated they were prediabetic.
“Diabetes education looks like it’s working, but we might
need to bump education back to people who are at risk for diabetes and even to
people with normal blood glucose levels to start improving dietary behaviors
before people develop chronic disease,” Taylor said.
The study was published recently in PLOS Global Public Health.
Study Methodology and Findings
Researchers analyzed data from 23,708 U.S. adults over 30
years of age who had participated from 2005 to 2016 in the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The survey collects
24-hour dietary recalls from each participant – detailing not just what, but
when, all food was consumed.
Respondents were categorized according to their HbA1c
level, a measure of glucose control, into four groups: nondiabetes,
prediabetes, controlled diabetes and poorly controlled diabetes.
Among the whole survey sample, snacks accounted for
between 19.5% and 22.4% of total energy intake – while contributing very little
nutritional quality.
In descending order of proportion, snacks consisted of
convenience foods high in carbohydrates and fats, sweets, alcoholic beverages,
non-alcoholic drinks that include sugar-sweetened beverages, protein, milk and
dairy, fruits, grains and, lagging far behind, vegetables.
Noting that capturing 24 hours of food consumption
doesn’t necessary reflect how people usually eat, “it gives us a really good
snapshot of a large number of people,” Taylor said. “And that can help us
understand what’s going on, where nutritional gaps might be and the education
we can provide.”
Finding that people with diabetes had healthier snacking
habits was an indicator that dietary education is beneficial to people with the
disease. But it’s information that just about everyone can use, Taylor said –
and it’s about more than just cutting back on sugar and carbs.
The Bigger Picture of Snacking
“We need to go from just less added sugar to healthier
snacking patterns,” he said. “We’ve gotten to a point of demonizing individual
foods, but we have to look at the total picture. Removing added sugars won’t
automatically make the vitamin C, vitamin D, phosphorus and iron better. And if
we take out refined grains, we lose nutrients that come with fortification.
“When you take something out, you have to put something
back in, and the substitution becomes just as important as the removal.”
And so, rather than offering tips on what foods to snack
on, Taylor emphasizes looking at a day’s total dietary picture and seeing
whether snacks will fulfill our nutritional needs.
“Especially during the holidays, it’s all about the
environment and what you have available, and planning accordingly. And it’s
about shopping behavior: What do we have in the home?” he said.
“We think about what we’re going to pack for lunch and
cook for dinner. But we don’t plan that way for our snacks. So then you’re at
the mercy of what’s available in your environment.”
Reference: “Snacks contribute considerably to total
dietary intakes among adults stratified by glycemia in the United States” by
Kristen Heitman, Sara E. Thomas, Owen Kelly, Stephanie M. Fanelli, Jessica L.
Krok-Schoen, Menghua Luo and Christopher A. Taylor, 26 October 2023, PLOS Global Public Health.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000802
This work was supported by Abbott Nutrition and Ohio
State. Co-authors included Kristen Heitman, Owen Kelly, Stephanie Fanelli and
Jessica Krok-Schoen of Ohio State and Sara Thomas and Menghua Luo of Abbott
Nutrition.
