ORIGINAL ARTICLES The Fat-Sucrose Seesaw in Relation to Age and Dietary Variety of French Adults zy Adam Drewnowski, zyxwvuts * Susan Ahlstrom Henderson, * Amy Beth Shore, * Claude Fischler, f Paul Preziosi,# Serge Hercberg# Abstract DREWNOWSKI, ADAM, SUSAN AHLSTROM HEN- DERSON, AMY BETH SHORE, CLAUDE FISCH- LER, PAUL PREZIOSI, SERGE HERCBERG. The fat- sucrose seesaw in relation to age and dietary variety of French adults. Obes Res. zyxwvutsrq 1997;5:511-518. Guidelines for a healthy diet often recommend limiting dietary sugars and fats. Some researchers have called these aims mutually incompatible, suggesting that fat and sugar intakes, when expressed as percent dietary energy, are inversely linked. Others have argued that sugar, more specifically sucrose, acts as a vehicle for dietary fat and serves to suppress the overall quality of the diet. This study examined the relationship between age, sucrose and fat intakes, body mass index (BMI), and measures of dietary diversity and variety in a commu- nity-based sample of 837 French adults. Consistent with other studies, high consumption of added sucrose (in g/day or g/lOOO kcal per day) was associated with higher consumption of energy and fat and lower consumption of vegetables and fruit. However, eating patterns were strongly influenced by age. High-sucrose consumers were significantly younger and had lower BMI values than did low-sucrose consumers, who were both older and had higher BMIs. High-sucrose diets had minimal effect on the diet diversity score and were associated with more varied diets, as evidenced by a higher dietary variety score. Submitted for publication January 3. 1997. Accepted for publication May 12. 1997. From the *Human Nutrition Program, School of Public Health. University of Michi- gan, 1420 Washington Heights. Ann Arbor. MI 48109-2029; tCESTAH, 14 rue Corvisart 75013 Paris, France; and Slnstitut Scientifique et Technique de I'Alimentation, Conservatoire National des zyxwvutsrqpo Arts ef Metiers. 2 rue Contk. zyxwvutsr 7.5003 Pans, France. Reprint requests 10 Dr. Adam Drewnowski. Human Nutrition Program, School of Public Health M-5170. 1420 Washington Heights. Ann Arbor. MI 48109-2029. Copyright zyxwvutsrqponml 0 1997 NAASO. Key words: fat intake, sucrose intake, fruit and veg- etables, age, body mass index, dietary variety score (DW Introduction The relationship between fat and sugar intakes and the degree of being overweight has been the focus of many clinical and epidemiological studies (5,7,12,17). Some in- vestigators have reported an inverse relationship between added sugars and fats when the two were expressed as per- cent energy (7,12). This fat-sugar seesaw was reported for added or extrinsic sugars, that is, sucrose ( 12), as well as for total sugars (17), and held moreover, within and across populations. The reciprocal relationship between dietary sugar and fat was further said to be a causal one, such that any attempt to limit sucrose intakes would result in a cor- responding increase in fat consumption (7,12). Accordingly, dietary guidelines to reduce the consumption of sugar as well as fat, still the most common strategy for weight con- trol, were described by some investigators as being mutually incompatible (7). The opposing view has been that added sucrose, far from limiting fat intake, serves as a vehicle for dietary fat by making fatty foods more palatable (5). In a study published in the United Kingdom zyxw (3, elevated consumption of added sucrose was associated with a higher consumption of fats in confectionery and sweets, lower consumption of fruit, and a static consumption of vegetables. Those researchers con- cluded that without sucrose in the diet, most of the fat would not have been eaten, and argued that increased sucrose con- sumption suppressed the overall quality of the diet. That study (5) sparked considerable controversy regarding the fat-sugar seesaw and the contribution of added sucrose to diet quality as well as the maintenance of bodyweight (6,10,18,24). The proportion of sucrose in the diet changes with age. Most studies on the fat-sugar seesaw have not taken the age variable into account. Studies have either used overly broad age categories (17) or failed to stratify subjects by age al- together (5,7,12). Some studies cited in support of the fat- OBESITY RESEARCH Vol. 5 No. 6 Nov. 1997 511