Optimizing Nutrient Intakes

Snacking ranks among America’s favorite pastimes and for some consumers has replaced 3 square meals a day. Since the introduction of the potato chip more than a century ago, snacks have evolved into an actual meal category with endless choices to meet consumers’ wide-ranging tastes and the demands of active, mobile lifestyles. This issue of Health Connections looks at how health professionals can help clients use snacking occasions as opportunities to improve overall nutrient intakes and meet nutrition goals.

Research Update: Snacking – from Occasional to Ubiquitous to Opportune

As recently as 30 years ago, most adults snacked only once a day or not at all. Now both the number of adults snacking and the number of snacks eaten have increased. Two-thirds of adults snack 2 or more times a day, and some report consuming 4 or more snacks daily.

According to market research, more than a third of millennials reported snacking more compared to a year ago, with 26- to 30-year-olds indicating 3 or more snacking occasions per day. Snacking by teens has also increased, with 83 percent of adolescents eating at least one snack on any given day. Children consume about 3 snacks per day, comprising more than 27 percent of their calories and consisting mostly of desserts and sweetened beverages.

Rather than defining snacks by time of day and/or by type of sweet or salty treat, distinctions between meals and snacks are now blurred. Foods can be eaten as snacks or alongside main meals since food manufacturers have made it easier for consumers to decide for themselves whether a food is a meal or snack by not pigeonholing products into defined categories through packaging, portion size or type of ingredients.

As traditional meals at the table occur less often, grazing throughout the day and solo dining have contributed to increases in snacking behavior and types of snacks available. Restaurants are tapping into snacking behavior, catering to round-the-clock customers by offering portable items for between-meal grazing and menus for different times of day.

In addition, perceptions of snacking have shifted from a behavior to be avoided to a means of sensible eating. Better-for-you snacking is on the rise, being considered a way to add nutrients or eat more sensibly throughout the day. Market research NPD Group said more people today disagree with the statement, “I try to avoid snacking,” compared to 30 years ago. Generation X (ages 38 to 48), millennials (ages 24 to 37) and Generation Z (up to age 23) are seeking better-for-you snack foods, and they “have positive attitudes about snacking, a desire to eat more healthfully and a need for convenience.”

Drivers of Snacking Behavior

In addition to consumers’ desire for convenience and portability, social situations and other experiences serve as reasons to snack. Writing in the January 2015 issue of Appetite (“It’s My Party and I Eat if I Want to: Reasons for Unhealthy Snacking”), researchers assessed a broad range of motives for snacking, defined as all foods eaten between breakfast, lunch and dinner and containing high amounts of ingredients like fats and sugar. While not an exhaustive list, reasons for snacking include:

• Enjoying a special occasion (the biggest driver)
• Having opportunity to eat
• Gaining energy
• Coping with negative emotions
• Rewarding oneself
• Feeling social pressure

The reasons for unhealthy snacking differed most notably by age and gender, with younger respondents identifying more often with these reasons and women more than men identifying coping with negative emotions, enjoying a special occasion and gaining energy. This study and the market research on better-for-you snacking suggest there are many situations and reasons for snacking, including positive motives, that health professionals can assess when working with clients.

Smart Snacking and Nutrient Quality

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), in its review of the current status of nutrient intake, identified vitamin D, calcium, potassium and fiber as under-consumed nutrients by the entire US population, and iron as a nutrient of concern for adolescents and premenopausal women. Across all age groups the vast majority of consumers are not meeting the recommended intakes from the dairy, vegetables, fruits and grains food groups. Young children consume the recommended amounts of vegetables and fruits, but their intake drops when they reach school age and beyond.

The increase in snacking among all age groups, and its caloric contribution, suggests snacks are a great opportunity to provide shortfall nutrients in consumers’ diets. Snacks provide approximately one-fourth of adult consumers’ daily calories (See Sidebar). Although greater proportions of these snack calories currently come from carbohydrates and total sugars, health professionals can advise consumers to choose snacks from the core food groups so the percentage of calories from less nutritious foods decreases. Snacking can thus improve micronutrient and food-group intake in young children, growing teens, pregnant and lactating women with higher nutrient needs, active adults needing additional energy and older adults who eat small meals.

Researchers have studied 12 snacking/eating patterns for nutrient composition, overall diet quality and contribution to cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, high- and low-density cholesterol levels, triglycerides, blood glucose and insulin levels. Most of the snacking patterns resulted in a higher total energy intake compared to no snacks; a higher Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2005) was associated with some snacking patterns. Nevertheless, the mean HEI-2005 scores for all of the snacking patterns (including no snacks) were low. This suggests that overall diet quality in adults was poor and that consumers in general can benefit from specific tips on how to choose snacks wisely to meet the shortfall nutrients identified by the DGAC.

While more research is needed to evaluate how snacking relates to long-term health, it is clear that snacking is increasingly prevalent in American culture among all age groups. Choosing convenient, healthy, nutritious snacks can greatly impact clients’ success in reaching nutrition and health goals.