Pharm D Program, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy (Girls), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jun 22;11:1166868. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1166868. eCollection 2023.
Obesity and weight gain have become major problems worldwide. Thus, several forms of alternative intense sweeteners are extensively used, offering a non-caloric sweet taste. To the best of our knowledge, no research has studied either the consumption pattern or the perception of using artificial sweeteners in Saudi Arabia.
Our research aimed to study the usage pattern of such artificial sweeteners in the Tabuk region and estimate the knowledge of and attitudes toward their usage among the population.
A cross-sectional study promoted on multiple social media platforms and face-to-face interviews in different malls and hospitals in the Tabuk region. We grouped the participants into two major groups: the users and the non-users of artificial sweeteners. Each group has been subdivided into a healthy subgroup and those with a medical record subgroup. Participants' characteristics and their choice of sweeteners were analyzed using bivariate analysis. The age, gender, and education level of the participants were adjusted using binary logistic regression in order to adjust for potential confounders.
A total of 2,760 participants were included in our study. We found that more than 59% of the participants that were over 45 years old were non-hospitalized non-hospitalized diseased irrespective of their usage of artificial sweeteners. Furthermore, females, graduates, diabetics were significantly high irrespective of their subgroup. Moreover, Steviana is the most commonly used artificial sweetener. In addition, healthy participants showed a greater perception of the usage and adverse effects of artificial sweeteners. Furthermore, bivariate analysis using logistic regression revealed significant associations ( < 0.05) with confounders such as gender, age, and education level.
Educational programs and nutritional advice for the safe consumption and the daily permissible doses of artificial sweeteners are essential and should be directed specifically at females.
肥胖和体重增加已成为全球的主要问题。因此，人们广泛使用了多种形式的替代高强度甜味剂，以提供无热量的甜味。据我们所知，尚无研究探讨过沙特阿拉伯人工甜味剂的消费模式或使用情况。
我们的研究旨在研究塔布克地区此类人工甜味剂的使用模式，并评估该地区人群对其使用的了解程度和态度。
采用横断面研究方法，在塔布克地区的多个社交媒体平台上进行推广，并在不同的商场和医院进行面对面访谈。我们将参与者分为两组：人工甜味剂使用者和非使用者。每组又分为健康组和有医疗记录组。使用双变量分析对参与者的特征和他们对甜味剂的选择进行分析。使用二元逻辑回归对参与者的年龄、性别和教育水平进行调整，以调整潜在的混杂因素。
共有 2760 名参与者纳入本研究。我们发现，59%以上 45 岁以上的非住院非患病者（无论是否使用人工甜味剂）都属于这一组。此外，女性、毕业生、糖尿病患者的比例无论在哪个亚组都很高。此外，甜叶菊糖是最常用的人工甜味剂。此外，健康参与者对人工甜味剂的使用和不良反应有更深刻的认识。此外，使用逻辑回归进行的双变量分析显示，性别、年龄和教育水平等混杂因素存在显著关联（<0.05）。
需要针对女性开展有关人工甜味剂安全使用和每日允许剂量的教育计划和营养建议。
