Want chips with that?
A damning report from Public Health England this week said British kids are going over their recommended sugar intake by more than a third and it blames the nation’s sweet tooth on fruit juice as well as soft drinks and cereals.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England which published the report, said: “The new data highlights that children are drinking too many sugary drinks. The best drinks for school-aged children are water and low fat milk. Fruit juice is also a good choice as it can be included as one of your five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. However, it should only be drunk once a day and with a meal because it can be high in sugar and cause tooth decay. Fizzy drinks can be high in sugar and calories and are not a good choice for children.”Government advice recommends that no more than 11% of our diet should come from added sugars but the National Diet and Nutrition Survey for 2008-12 shows that added sugar made up an average of 14.7% of the diet of kids aged under ten.
The nationwide survey is based on research into the eating habits of 1,000 people a year. It found all age groups exceed recommended daily levels of saturated fat and salt and despite a huge publicity campaign encouraging people to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, just 10% of boys and 7% of girls aged between 11-18 hit the target.
Dr Tedstone added: “The findings, from the four years covered by the survey, confirm that eating habits do not change quickly. It is clear that we all need to work together to help people improve their diets.”
Get a copy of ‘Improving the Publics Health’ at http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/improving-publics-health
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