Hands up who eats 5 doughnuts a day?! No, no one. So you definitely wouldn’t let your children!
The guardian published an article with information from the Obesity Health Alliance that states that a child’s sugar intake can equal to as many as 5 doughnuts a day or 20 chocolate chip biscuits! Obesity Health Alliance want urgent action to reduce the amount of “hidden” sugar in many common foodstuffs.
Children and young people aged between 11 and 18 typically have 73.2 grams of sugar a day, far in excess of the 30g – or seven teaspoons – maximum recommended in official health advice, according to the OHA’s estimates. Those 73.2g are the equivalent of 20 chocolate chip or custard cream biscuits, 14.6 jelly babies, 5.4 slices of Victoria sponge cake or 4.8 jam-filled doughnuts.
The figures are based on the Public Health England and the Food Standards Agency’s recent national diet and nutrition survey, an annual study of what a sample of the UK is eating and drinking. It also found that four- to 10-year-olds are consuming 53.5g of sugar a day, while the figure among 19- to 64-year-olds is 59.9g daily.
Big food & drink manufacturers have announced plans to reduce their use of sugar as part of a reformulation drive ahead of the government’s sugar tax coming into force in 2018. PHE wants all food manufacturers and outlets to strip 20% of all sugar out of a wide range of products by 2020. It plans to issue a report setting out in detail what types of foods contribute to people’s sugar intake and where they buy them.
Change for life have a fantastic app that lets you see how much sugar is in your food just by scanning them its so easy and super fun so can even get children scanning their choices in the supermarket!
To add to the many health risks of our children consuming this much sugar is a high risk of dental caries that leads to fillings and young children treatment under general anaesthetic. The team at Newport Pagnell can help if you have concerns about sugar intake and oral health. We have visited many primary schools in the area helping teacher’s educate the children on all things teeth- if you know a school, playgroup or nursery that may like a visit please let us know we’d love to help!