• Walaa A Mumena, Anwar I Alahmadi, Atheer E Alenazi, Fatimah I Alfaruqi, Ghada M Alqarafi, Hanin A Ahmed, Lujain A Aljabri, Najoud N Joraid, Raghad S Almukhlifi, Rana Y Alhejaili, Raneem O Albeladi, Sama Y Almadani, and Hebah A Kutbi.
• Clinical Nutrition Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: wmumena@taibahu.edu.sa.
• Nutrition. 2023 Apr 1; 108: 111963111963.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate free sugar consumption (FSC) in relation to leisure screen time in children.MethodsCross-sectional data of 424 healthy Saudi children ages 6 to 12 y were included in this study. Data pertaining to sociodemographic characteristics and leisure screen time (including time spent viewing TV, gaming, and use of electronic devices [e.g., computer, tablet, and smartphone]) in children were collected from mothers via an online questionnaire. A phone interview was later conducted with the mother and child to assess FSC using a previously validated 40-item food frequency questionnaire.ResultsOur data found that a large proportion of children exceeded the maximum limit of screen time recommended for children, of ≤2 h/d (61.7%; n = 262). Child and maternal ages and child's birth order among siblings were significantly associated with the duration of leisure screen time (screen time within the recommendation of ≤2 h/d versus screen time that exceeded the recommendation; P < 0.050). Exceeding the recommendation of screen time predicted an increase of 8.96 g/d of FSC from liquid foods, 10.7 g/d of FSC from solid foods, and 19.3 g/d of total FSC.ConclusionsExceeding the recommendation of screen time is associated with greater FSC in children. Future interventions should be directed toward restricting screen time and FSC in children.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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