Family Health Campaign Launches To Reduce Children’s Sugar Intake

If you’ve started the New Year on a massive health kick, a new campaign could help support you in your sugar-free mission.

Public Health England (PHE) is encouraging families to cut back on the amount of sugar they consume with a Change4Life 'sugar swaps' campaign.

Change4Life aims to help families reduce their sugar intake with lots of ideas on how they can save money on healthy foods and suggests fun ways to swap sugary foods for more nutritious alternatives.

With free packs of information, ideas and more available when you sign up on the Change4Life website, parents can pick a swap that will help them cut down on the amount of sugar their family eats each day.

And it's looking promising so far.

Ahead of the launch, the campaign’s advisors had already worked with 50 families on sugar swaps and found that on average the sugar intake was reduced by 40 per cent over a month. And the website shows that almost 25,000 people have signed up to sugar swap.

The Recommended Amount Of Sugar
Health guidelines advise that only 10 per cent of our calorie intake should be made up of sugar, which works out to be just 5.5 teaspoons a day for children aged 0 to three years old.

But experts warn that children aged four to 10 years old are consuming far more than they should – affecting their health.

Too much sugar can cause lots of problems, including heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. Not to mention obesity.

A sugar overload can also lead to tooth decay, which one in 10 children under the age of three have, a survey outlined last year. PHE figures shockingly showed that an average of three teeth in these children were decayed, missing or filled.

“Reducing sugar intake is important for the health of our children both now and in the future,” says Professor Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing at PHE.

“We are all eating too much sugar and the impact this has on our health is evident.

“This campaign is about taking small steps to address this. We know from past campaigns that making simple swaps works and makes a real difference.”

A poll showed that parents are worried about how healthy their children’s diets are. The Netmums survey suggests that two-thirds of parents are concerned about the amount of sugar their child eats.

And around half of parents believe their family has too much sugar - something that probably most of us can relate to.

[17 Healthy-Ish Homemade Snacks Your Toddler Will Love]

[Baby Dental Care: Everything You Need To Know About Brushing Your Child’s Teeth]

Are you worried your family eats too much sugar? Let us know in the comments.