02 January 2018
Change4Life campaign launched around children’s snacking
A new Change4Life
campaign has been launched to encourage parents to 'look for 100-calorie
snacks, two a day max' to cut children’s sugar intake.
This is because half of
children’s sugar intake, currently around seven sugar cubes a day, comes from
unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks, leading to obesity and dental decay.
Each year children are
consuming almost 400 biscuits, more than 120 cakes, buns and
pastries, around 100 portions of sweets, nearly 70 of both chocolate
bars and ice creams, washed down with over 150 juice drink pouches and
cans of fizzy drink.
Public Health England’s
improved Change4Life ‘Food Scanner’ app also shows parents how many calories,
sugar, salt and saturated fat is in their food to help make healthier choices
easier. It can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
With a third of children
leaving primary school overweight or obese, tackling obesity requires wider
action and is not just limited to individual efforts from parents. PHE is
working with the food industry to cut 20% of sugar from the products children
consume most by 2020, with work to reduce calories due to start in 2018.
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