Browsing by Author "Kainu, Laura"

Finland has a tradition of children having a “Sweets day”. Sweets day was originally established as a prophylactic measure for dental caries. To my knowledge, the sweets day phenomenon has not been investigated in relation to sugar intake. Previous studies have reported that the intake of dietary sugar is a bit higher than recommended in Finnish children. However, comparing to other countries sugar intake in Finnish children is modest. There are no recent studies on added sugar intake in Finnish children. To my knowledge free sugar has not been studied in any age group in Finland before. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of sweets day, and its association with savory and sugar-sweetened snack and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption frequency, as well as socioeconomic factors related to sweets day habit. Another aim was to create a method for assessing added and free sugar in food record data and to investigate the intake of added and free sugar, and associations between having a sweets day and added and free sugar intake. The DAGIS study examined health behaviors among Finnish preschool children. The participants were 3–6-year-old children and their guardians. Altogether 66 preschools (n=864) in Southern Finland and Southern Ostrobothnia regions participated in the study. Dietary assessment was done with Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ, n=805) and food a three-day food record (n=813) data. Parents filled (FFQ) for children and reported if the child had a specific sweets day. FFQ data was used to assess the frequency of snack consumption. Parents and daycare personnel filled a 3-day food record for the child. Parents reported background information such as highest education in the family and number of children living in the same household. Food record data was used to assess dietary added and free sugar. Participants were divided in two groups based on their sweets day habit. Pearson’s Chi-square was used to study the association between the sweets day habit and background variables. Mann-Whitney’s U-test was used to compare the consumption frequency of snacks and SSB’s. T-test was used to compare the added and free sugar intakes between the children with and without a sweets day. Altogether 63% of the children had a sweets day. Mean intake of added sugar was 9.0 E% and free sugar 9.8 E%. Children who had a sweets day obtained slightly more added sugar than did the children without a sweets day ((9.2 E% vs. 8.5 E%, p=0.03). Free sugar intake was higher in the sweets day group as well compared to non-sweets day group (10.1 E% vs. 9.3 E%, p=0,01). Having a sweets day was more common in families with less education (p=0.001). Frequency of candy consumption did not differ between the groups. Having a sweets day was associated with more frequent consumption of SSB’s and savory snacks (p=0,007 and p=0,001, respectively). Children without a sweets day consumed more often chocolate (p=0.004) than did the children without a sweets day. Our results suggest that in Finland, having a sweets day is popular, and more common in families with less education. Having a sweets day was associated with slightly higher intake of added and free sugars compared to children who do not have a sweets day. The mean added and free sugar intake did not exceed the recommendations for sugar intake in Finland.