Dietary Exposure Assessment And Health Risk Study Of Five Kinds Of Non-Nutritive Sweeteners In Children And Adolescents

Non-nutritive sweeteners(NNSs)have been widely added in foodstuff due to their properties with high sweetness,low calories and cheapness.Despite their advantages,the safety issue of NNSs has come to the foreground in recent years as they may be unlawfully added during food production and processing and over-assumed by consumers.Therefore,both in-depth research on the safety of NNSs and dietary exposure evaluation are required for vulnerable populations like children and adolescents to reduce health risks induced by the over-intake of NNSs.In this study,a questionnaire-based survey on snack consumption among children and adolescents in county R was conducted using the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire(SQFFQ).Three exposure assessment models—point assessment,simple distribution assessment,and probability assessment—were built based on the food inspection and sampling data in county R to evaluate the populational exposure for five commonly used NNSs: Sodium Saccharin,sodium cyclamate,aspartame,acesulfame potassium,and sucralose.Besides,the hazard index method and the snack contribution analysis were utilized to assess the cumulative risk of NNSs and the exposure of NNSs,respectively.On balance,this study provides supportive data for artificial food sweeteners in supervision,standards revision,and selection of snacks for children and adolescents.The principal conclusions of this study are as follows.1.According to the statistical analysis of the crowd’s snack intake from SQFFQ,we concluded that(a)girls consumed snacks more snacks than boys on average,(b)urban students tended to consume more snacks than students from townships on average,(c)and as for age groups,the snack consumption was crowned by the 11–14 years old group and the followers in consumption order were the group 15–19,group 7–10 and children under six.2.Then data from SQFFQ were integrated with sampling data by food surveillance from2020 to 2021 and they were merged to generate 16 major categories.As a whole,NNSs was employed in snacks above limits and ranges,with 39 failed samples being found out of 4935 samples with a failure rate of 0.79%.Of all categories,the cyclamate,detected in 11 kinds of snacks,was the most widely used and sodium saccharin,detected in 5 kinds of snacks,was the narrowest range of use.A total of 233 samples using more than two kinds of NNSs were detected,showing the combination of binary,ternary and quaternary sweeteners,and the overstandard rate was 26.6%.3.Model assessment approaches were utilized to determine the population’s actual dietary exposure level risk of NNSs.The results demonstrated that the overall population exposure to aspartame,sucralose,acesulfame,and sodium saccharin was acceptable in safe range.The point assessment results showed that there was no risk of sweetener exposure for the entire population on the average level,but the P99 sweetener exposure values were close to or even exceeded their allowable daily intake(ADI),and the population exposure risk in rural areas was higher than in urban areas,as well as girls had higher risk than boys.The probability assessment results indicated that the exposure to P99 sweetener(as a percentage of ADI)was 12.27–12.50 mg/kg·bw(111.55%～113.64%)for the 2–6 years old group and10.98–11.37 mg/kg·bw(99.82%～103.36%))for the 11–14 years old group.This suggests a risk of sweetener exposure in the two groups with high consumption levels,with the risk ranking being highest in the 2–6 years old group.The risk ranking was as follows: 2–6 years were riskier than 11–14 years,7–10 years,and 15–19 years.Point assessment was greater than probability evaluation than simple distribution assessment when comparing the modeled sweetener exposure(P90 to P99).The cumulative risk assessment results indicated that individuals between the ages of 2 and 6 who consumed large amounts of alcohol(P99)were at risk for long-term exposure to the ternary NNSs combination(sodium saccharin,acesulfame and sweetener).The contribution analysis found that processed fruit products,processed nuts and seeds,and seasoning food were the most groups that the population tended to sweetener exposure.As a whole,Snack consumption and body weight of the population have an impact on the results of NNSs dietary exposure assessment and NNSs were used in commercially accessible snacks in excess of the allowed amount.To successfully lower the risk of sweetener exposure,individuals aged 2 to 14 with high consumption levels(P99)should be aware of the dangers of sweetener exposure and minimize their intake of processed fruit products,processed nuts and seeds,and seasoning food.