Table 4.

Indicators of the dietary content in free sugars according to quintiles of the dietary contribution of NOVA food groups in the UK population aged 19–64 years (2008–2014)

Dietary contribution (% of total energy intake)				% of total energy intake from free sugars		Individuals with ≥10% of total energy intake from free sugars
Quintile	Mean	Min	Max	Mean	SE	%	PR*	PRadj†	95% CI
Unprocessed or minimally processed foods+processed culinary ingredients
First	15.06	0.00	20.92	15.11	0.36	35.87	1.00	–	–
Second	24.93	20.95	28.41	12.87	0.31	31.12	0.85	0.87	0.79 to 0.96
Third	31.65	28.43	34.96	11.97	0.31	30.87	0.79	0.85	0.77 to 0.94
Fourth	38.95	34.97	43.88	11.01	0.28	28.45	0.66	0.72	0.64 to 0.8
Fifth	54.24	43.93	91.9	9.89‡	0.25	25.28	0.57‡	0.62‡	0.55 to 0.71
Processed foods
First	0.28	0.00	1.32	13.09	0.5	59.14	1.00	1.00	–
Second	2.6	1.34	3.79	12.82	0.41	60.65	1.03	1.04	0.92 to 1.19
Third	5.35	3.79	6.82	12.17	0.3	61.42	1.04	1.04	0.92 to 1.18
Fourth	9.36	6.82	12.03	11.62	0.26	55.92	0.95	0.98	0.87 to 1.11
Fifth	19.8	12.04	65.22	11.27‡	0.22	52.47	0.89‡	0.92‡	0.82 to 1.03
Ultra-processed foods
First	34.45	1.82	43.67	9.62	0.27	39.42	1.00	1.00	–
Second	48.7	43.69	53.04	11.11	0.25	53.34	1.35	1.3	1.13 to 1.5
Third	57.08	53.06	60.96	11.83	0.29	56.84	1.44	1.37	1.19 to 1.57
Fourth	65.34	60.96	70.14	13.09	0.32	66.31	1.68	1.57	1.37 to 1.79
Fifth	78.04	70.15	100	15.21‡	0.38	74.3	1.88‡	1.67‡	1.46 to 1.92

*PR=prevalence ratios estimated using Poisson regression.

†PRadj=prevalence ratios adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity (White, mixed ethnic group, Black or Black British, Asian or Asian British and other race), region, survey year and household income.

‡Significant linear trend across all quintiles (p≤0.01).