Department of Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
Science and Technology Department, Nestlé R&D Center (Pte) Ltd., Singapore 618802, Singapore.
Nutrients. 2020 Sep 11;12(9):2771. doi: 10.3390/nu12092771.
Carbohydrate quality is an aetiological factor of diet-related disease. Indices of carbohydrate quality featuring various ratios of carbohydrates-to-dietary fibre-to-sugar have been associated with improved product and/or diet quality in westernised countries. Carbohydrate intake is especially high in Asia Pacific. Thus, this study evaluated the ability of such carbohydrate metrics to discriminate the nutritional quality of carbohydrate-rich packaged foods and beverages in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, with an additional focus on beverages. This evaluation was conducted by comparing product nutritional composition and assessing products against three national nutrient profiling models. Results showed that Australia had the highest proportion of products meeting all metrics, compared to the Southeast Asian countries. Beverages had a low adherence to all metrics compared to solid foods. Across the five countries, both processed food and beverages meeting the metrics generally contained higher dietary fibre, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals whilst having lower energy, total sugars, free sugars, trans fat and cholesterol content compared to products not meeting the metrics. The metrics were also aligned with national nutrient profiling models to identify nutritious products. In conclusion, these metrics allowed us to discriminate product nutritional quality in the countries assessed and are applicable to beverages.
碳水化合物质量是与饮食相关疾病的病因之一。在西化国家，各种碳水化合物与膳食纤维和糖的比例的碳水化合物质量指数与提高产品和/或饮食质量有关。在亚太地区，碳水化合物的摄入量尤其高。因此，本研究评估了这些碳水化合物指标在区分澳大利亚、马来西亚、新加坡、泰国和菲律宾富含碳水化合物的包装食品和饮料的营养价值方面的能力，此外还重点关注了饮料。通过比较产品的营养成分并根据三种国家营养成分模型对产品进行评估，对这些指标进行了评估。结果表明，与东南亚国家相比，澳大利亚符合所有指标的产品比例最高。与固体食品相比，饮料对所有指标的遵守程度都较低。在这五个国家中，符合这些指标的加工食品和饮料通常含有更高的膳食纤维、蛋白质和某些维生素和矿物质，同时能量、总糖、游离糖、反式脂肪和胆固醇含量较低，而不符合这些指标的产品则相反。这些指标还与国家营养成分模型一致，以识别有营养的产品。总之，这些指标使我们能够区分评估国家的产品营养质量，并且适用于饮料。
