PHE campaign aims to reduce children’s sugar intake in UK

Public Health England (PHE) has launched a Change4Life campaign in the UK to help families cut down the consumption of sugar and tackle growing rates of childhood obesity.

According to PHE, children aged ten have been consuming 18 years worth of sugar.

PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said: “Children are consuming too much sugar, but parents can take action now to prevent this building up over the years.

“To make this easier for busy families, Change4Life is offering a straightforward solution, by making simple swaps each day, children can have healthier versions of everyday foods and drinks, while significantly reducing their sugar intake.

Though the figures showed a decline in sugar consumption, the study suggests that children are still consuming around eight excess sugar cubes each day, equivalent to around 2,800 excess sugar cubes per annum.

Change4Life campaign encourages parents to make simple swaps every day, thereby reducing children’s sugar intake from products such as yoghurts, drinks and breakfast cereals by half.

The swaps could remove around 2,500 sugar cubes per year from a child’s diet.

PHE noted that swapping chocolate, puddings, sweets, cakes and pastries with malt loaf, sugar-free jellies, lower-sugar custards and rice puddings would further reduce their sugar intake.

In May last year, PHE released progress against the first-year sugar reduction ambition of 5%, which showed an average 2% reduction in sugar across categories for retailers and manufacturers.