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Children 'exceed recommended sugar limit by age 10'

Published : Thursday, 3 January, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 137

Children in the UK exceed the maximum recommended sugar intake for an 18-year-old by the time they are 10, according to experts.
This is based on their total sugar consumption from the age of two, says Public Health England (PHE).
Children consume much more than they should, around eight excess sugar cubes a day or 2,800 excess cubes per year.
PHE said a pudding tax should be considered if companies fail to reduce the amount of sugar in their products.
Are we going to get a 'pudding tax'?
The organisation also wants families to cut back to help tackle obesity, tooth decay and other illnesses linked to excess sugar.
Choosing lower-sugar foods and drinks can make a difference.
The recommended daily maximum of sugar for children aged four to six is five cubes or 19g. For children aged seven to 10 this rises to six cubes (24g) and up to seven cubes (30g) for those aged 11 and over.
However, UK children are consuming around 13 cubes or 52g of sugar a day, says PHE, based on results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey.
Half of the sugar in children's diets comes from sugary drinks, sweets, biscuits, cakes, puddings, sugary breakfast cereals and higher-sugar yoghurts and puddings.
How can you reduce your child's sugar intake?
A higher-sugar yoghurt (e.g. split-pot) for a lower sugar one, to halve sugar intake from six cubes of sugar to three cubes
A sugary juice drink for a no-added sugar juice drink, to cut back from two cubes to half a cube
A higher-sugar breakfast cereal (e.g. a frosted or chocolate cereal) for a lower sugar cereal, to cut back from three cubes to half a cube per bowl
Making such swaps every day could remove around 2,500 sugar cubes per year from a child's diet, but swapping chocolate, puddings, sweets, cakes and pastries for healthier options such as malt loaf, sugar-free jellies, lower-sugar custards and rice puddings would reduce their intake even more, according to the Change4Life campaign website.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE, said: "Children are consuming too much sugar, but parents can take action now to prevent this building up over the years."
PHE is working with the food industry to cut 20% of sugar from the foods children consume most by 2020.
In May 2018, PHE published progress against the first-year sugar reduction ambition of 5%, which showed an average 2% reduction in sugar across categories for retailers and manufacturers.    -BBC













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