Public Health England warns of kids’ breakfast sugar intake

Public Health England (PHE) has issued a warning to parents after finding that British children are consuming up to half their recommended daily intake of sugar before they even leave the breakfast table.
 
Data analysed from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey as part of Change4Life discovered that the average youngster consumes the equivalent of three cubes during the first meal of the day, adding up to 1,000 cubes over the course of a year.
 
Sugary cereals, chocolate spreads and fruit juices were blamed, as they can contain the equivalent of up to five cubes in a single serving.
 
However, there may be some confusion when it comes to how much sugar certain foods contain, as more than 80 percent of parents believed they were giving their children a healthy breakfast.
 
Chief nutritionist at PHE Dr Alison Tedstone urged parents to use a recently introduced app on the Change4Life website that allows them to scan the barcodes of selected products to reveal how much sugar they contain.
 
"Children have far too much sugar, and a lot of it is before their first lesson of the day. It's crucial for children to have a healthy breakfast," she added.
 
Previous studies have revealed that almost a fifth of children are now obese before they leave primary school, which can lead to issues such as diabetes.

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