London - British five year olds consume their body weight in sugar each year, figures have show.
They eat an average of nearly three-and-a-half stone (about 22kg), the equivalent of 5 500 sugar cubes, which is three times the recommended amount.
The findings – from a government study of 3 400 children aged four to ten – were published ahead of a campaign to encourage people to buy healthier foods with a smartphone app that details sugar content. Campaigners said this was merely a “gimmick” which would do little to curb obesity.
Government guidelines recommend five-year-old children eat no more than five teaspoons of sugar a day, or 1 825 teaspoons a year. But findings from its survey suggest they eat an average of 22 kilos a year – 5 500 teaspoons or cubes.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist for Public Health England, said: “Children are having 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.”
The app enables parents to scan the barcodes of 75 000 products to find out how many cubes of sugar they contain.
But Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was “somewhat irrelevant”, adding: “Instead of messing around with gimmicks, Public Health England would be better advised to publish how little sugar should be given to infants and toddlers.”
Professor Russell Viner of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health called for a 20 percent sugar tax on soft drinks, adding: “Only with a combination of education and tough new policies…can we be confident that obesity will not blight the lives of generations to come.”
Daily Mail