National Estimates of Dietary Fructose Intake Increased from 1977 to 2004 in the United States

Our purpose was to conduct a new analysis to update and extend previously published trends of fructose availability and estimated fructose intake and food sources of dietary fructose from the 1977-1978 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) data. We estimated fructose usual intake with data from NHANES 1999-2004 for 25,165 individuals (1 y and older, excluding pregnant and lactating women and breast-fed infants) using the Iowa State C-SIDE software. We applied food group-specific conversion factors to individual measures of sugar intakes following the earlier study. Sweetener availability in the United States increased from 1978, peaked in 1999, and declined through 2005. The high-fructose corn syrup percentage of sweeteners increased from 16% in 1978 to 42% in 1998 and then stabilized. Since 1978, mean daily intakes of added and total fructose increased in all gender and age groups, whereas naturally occurring (N) fructose intake decreased or remained constant. Total fructose intake as percentage of energy and as percentage of carbohydrate increased 1 and 1.2%, whereas daily energy and carbohydrate intakes increased 18 and 41%, respectively. Similar to 1978 results, nonalcoholic beverages and grain products were the principal food sources of added fructose. Fruits and fruit products were the main dietary sources of N fructose in 2004; in 1978, grain products and vegetables were more predominant food sources. Although comparison of estimates of fructose intakes between data from the 1977-1978 NFCS and the NHANES 1999-2004 showed an increase, this increase was dwarfed by greater increases in total daily energy and carbohydrate intakes.