Too much sugar consumption is linked to obesity and obesity can lead to various inflammatory diseases and type 2 diabetes. U.K. government recommendations are for the population to reduce sugar consumption. However, in some demographic groups the trend is in the opposite direction, with an increase most worryingly seen with children.
It is not only the government that is seeking to lower the quantities of sugar consumed, a consortium of health experts have formed a body called ‘Action on Sugar‘ with the aims of promoting the harmful effects of a high-sugar diet and seeking to reduce the amount of sugar in processed foods.
A spokesperson for the campaign body, Professor Graham MacGregor focuses the aims: “We must start a coherent and structured plan to slowly reduce the amount of calories people consume by slowly taking out added sugar from foods and soft drinks.”
The new figures relating to children and sugar consumption come from Public Health England. The government agency recently ran The National Diet and Nutrition Survey, and has analyzed the findings.
The survey examined 1,288 adults and 1,258 children, who completed a three or four-day food diary between 2012 and 2014. The findings showed that sugar makes up 13 percent of children’s daily calorie intake and 15 percent of teenagers’ daily diet.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told the BBC: “The results of this survey are extremely worrying. This is why we are surprised the long-awaited UK government childhood obesity strategy did not include a number of recommendations aimed at protecting children, such as a ban on advertising junk food and limiting their sale around schools.”
