(P17-022-25) Impact of Portion Guidance on Commonly Consumed Packaged Foods to Reduce Discretionary Calories and Public Health Sensitive Nutrients: Evidence From the United States

Objectives: Excessive consumption of discretionary food is a global concern linked to obesity prevalence. Reducing currently consumed portions of discretionary foods by following reference portion sizes holds potential to tackle this issue. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of applying Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (RACCs), without changing food choices, on discretionary calories and public health sensitive nutrients, in a nationally representative dataset from the United States, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Methods: Diet modelling was applied to selected discretionary, energy-dense food categories by replacing large portions (in excess of the RACC) reported among NHANES (2017-2018) participants with RACC values per eating occasion. Nutritional quality and adherence to WHO guidelines were compared before and after substitutions. Linear regressions were conducted to determine if reduction in daily total energy and daily added/free sugar was associated with participants’ demographic and anthropometric characteristics.

Results: After substitution, modelled daily energy decreased 7.8%. The proportion of daily energy from discretionary foods decreased 5.4% (mean ± SD from 20.7 ± 13.1% to 15.3 ± 9.8%, p< 0.001). Following portion guidance for discretionary foods would lead to diet quality improvements, with decreases in added sugar and saturated fat of 18.6% and 6.4%, respectively. When daily energy intake was standardized to 2000 kcal, nutrient density of fiber and protein would increase 1.7% and 4.6%, respectively. Modelled results also show better adherence to WHO dietary guidelines at a population level for added sugar (45.3% to 50.7%) and sodium (15.2% to 18.1%). No significant associations were observed in the linear regressions analyses.

Conclusions: Modification of portion sizes without altering food consumption preferences at the consumer level holds promise for improving energy and public health sensitive nutrient intakes. Further research is needed to explore the applicability of these findings to other geographical regions and to investigate potential associations with health outcomes.

Funding Sources: This research was funded by Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé, Vevey, Switzerland.