Children eating their body weight in sugar

Some concerning research has just been released in the UK which shows that children aged five are consuming their body weight in sugar each year.

A new article about the research, which was released by Public Health England (PHE), states that children aged between four and 10 eat around 22kg of sugar every year.

In the article, PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone says:

“Children are having too much sugar – three times the maximum recommended amount…this can lead to painful tooth decay, weight gain and obesity, which can also affect children’s well-being as they are more likely to be bullied, have low self-esteem and miss school.”

Here are some other points from the article:

• The PHE statistics coincide with the launch of a new Change4Life campaign urging parents to monitor their child’s sugar intake.
• Parents are being encouraged to use the free new Sugar Smart app, which reveals how much sugar food and drink contains by scanning a product’s barcode.
• The body has also released a short film to raise awareness of the damage caused by consuming too much sugar, after a 2013 study showed that almost a third of five-year-olds and almost half of eight-year-olds had tooth decay.
• The issue is the most common reason for five-to nine-year-olds being admitted to hospital, according to PHE.
• The campaign also highlights how the average child consumes three times the new maximum recommended daily amount, and how such behaviour puts youngsters at the risk of developing diabetes and becoming obese. The latter condition currently costs the NHS £5.1 billion each year – a figure that is projected to almost double by 2050.
• Dr Tedstone says that children aged five shouldn’t have more than 19 grams of sugar per day – that’s five cubes.

Follow the link to read full article.