Multi-faceted nutritional science demonstrated through the prism of sugar: a scoping review on sugar intake and association with quality of life in children and adolescents

Background To strengthen the scientific evidence linking dietary sugar consumption with health outcomes, it's essential to look beyond the usual focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and tooth decay. We thus hypothesize that considering other dimensions of health beyond physical health will meaningfully complement the evidence and expand our understanding of the relationship between nutrition and health. Purpose The aim of this scoping review was to explore the scientific evidence of an association between dietary sugar intake and quality of life (QoL) among healthy children and adolescents. Methods We performed a literature search in three databases (i.e., PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). The search included all types of studies assessing dietary sugar intake in association with QoL, in children and adolescents published in English between January 2001 and January 2023. Results Twenty-one full-text eligible papers were included in this review: one intervention, two prospective cohort studies, and 18 cross-sectional studies. The number of participants ranged from 25 to 65,000 and age of the participants ranged from 4 to 19 years. The studies differed considerably in exposure and outcome measures. For further qualitative analyses, the studies were categorized into studies related to different dimensions of QoL: food security (n = 4), sleep-related outcomes (n = 5), oral (n = 3) and (mental) health-related QoL (n = 9). Altogether, one study reported a null while the remaining 20 studies found adverse associations between intake of sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), or sweets and outcome measures of QoL. Conclusion Through this scoping review, a number of scientific studies have revealed an association between sugar intake among children and adolescents and health-related QoL. The findings underscore a negative association. Our review emphasizes the crucial imperative of embracing a broader spectrum of health dimensions to gain a more wholistic understanding of nutrition, especially in collecting science-based evidence for the development of health policies, including dietary guidelines.