Shoppers ditch sugary drinks for cakes, biscuits and chocolate says research
Fresh anger at Osborne's fizzy pop attack as Brits turn to other sweet treats
SHOPPERS are ditching sugary drinks only to buy more cakes, biscuits and chocolate instead.
The trend towards families getting their sugar hit in other ways is exposed by latest retail research.
Last night the figures fuelled fresh anger among critics of the looming sugar tax on fizzy pop.
Gavin Partington, of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: “We have always thought it perverse that the Government should single out the only category that has reduced sugar intake from its products.”
Sales of regular fizz have fallen by a third since 2012 as shoppers turn to diet versions.
It means sugar intake from soft drinks is down by 13.6 per cent. But over the same four years the amount consumed from sweet treats has increased by 5.6 per cent.
Confectionary now provides 9.9 per cent of a typical family’s take-home sugar — overtaking soft drinks, which have slumped to 8.8 per cent.
The figures were revealed by shopping behaviour analysts Kantar Worldpanel.
They emerged as TV chef Jamie Oliver called for a ban on companies such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s sponsoring the Olympics. Mr Partington said the soft drinks industry had set itself a “calorie reduction goal” of 20 per cent by 2020.
He said: “Our practical steps, including taking sugar out of products and smaller pack sizes, are already working.”
Next week High Street giants are to push for a VAT cut on healthy drinks. The British Dental Association is expected to back the idea at a summit chaired by Labour MP Keith Vaz.
