Kids guzzle ‘HALF their daily sugar allowance from breakfast cereals’ before they get to school and eat up to 22kg of sugar a year
Public Health England found many parents don't know how much sugar is in their children's food
CHILDREN are guzzling more than half their daily sugar allowance before they even get to school, experts warn.
Public Health England found seven to ten-year-olds are having more than 13g just in their breakfast. The watchdog blames the sugar overload on sweetened cereals and drinks.
Experts recommend primary school pupils have no more than 24g daily. But PHE says kids are eating 2½ times this amount.
It adds up to 22kg of sugar every year — almost equal to the bodyweight of an average seven-year-old.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE, said: “Children have far too much sugar and a lot of it is before their first lesson. It’s crucial for children to have a healthy breakfast even if mornings are fraught.”
Many parents are unsure what is best to eat at the start of the day, according to a survey for PHE’s Change4Life campaign.
It found more than eight in ten parents of kids who ate a sugary breakfast considered it to be healthy.
One in three youngsters now leave primary school too fat, and obese kids are five times more likely to become obese adults.
PHE hopes its free new app, Be Food Smart, will help. Parents can scan the barcode of products to find out key nutritional information.
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Actress and chef Lisa Faulkner said: “As a mum, I know how crucial it is for children to eat a healthy diet, but also how meal time in a busy household can be fraught.
“The app makes it easy to choose healthier food and drink options for children.”
And Sara Stanner, science director at the British Nutrition Foundation, said the app will make it easier for busy parents to make the right food choices.
She said: “We know a healthy breakfast can make an important contribution to children’s vitamin and mineral intakes and its consumption has been linked to many positive health outcomes.”
Sarah Toule, head of health information at World Cancer Research Fund, said sadly it is "not surprising" that kids are eating so much sugar.
"But, using apps like this can help parents to cut down their family's sugar intake," she said.
"Building healthy eating habits early in life makes it much more likely that children will be a healthy weight as an adult, which reduces their risk of several cancers.
"If the government wants to significantly reduce obesity rates, it needs to introduce a number of different policies, such as stricter regulations around the advertising of sugary products."