Well it turns out that that is exactly what most parents are doing unknowingly. Children eat the equivalent of 20 chocolate chip cookies' worth of sugar every day and the vast majority is hidden sugar.
You know how many teaspoons of sugar you add to coffee or tea because you are the one administering it. However, there is sugar in almost everything nowadays and to understand just how much sugar we ingest is almost impossible. So that goes for children too.
Breakfast cereals are packed full of refined carbs and sugar... those are the first two ingredients on the pack. Lots of parents know the evils of soft drinks, but still think that juice is a healthy option when all it really is is liquid sugar.
Public Health England has published figures that show that 11-18 year olds, on average, consume 73.2g of sugar every day - that's about 18 teaspoons a day. The NHS guidelines recommend that children over the age of 11 should consume no more than 30g a day, as you can see this means they are doubling that limit every single day. Four to ten year olds are consuming 53.5g/day (RDA for 4-6 year olds is 19g and RDA for 7-10 year olds is 24g) and 19 to 64 years olds are also well over the 30g maximum per day at 59.9g.
The Obesity Health Alliance also analyzed the figures and said that the food industry needs to take
Dr. Modi Mwatsama of the Obesity Health Alliance said:
"Most parents would never hand over 20 chocolate biscuits a day to their children, but with so much hidden sugar in our food and drink it can often be hard to know just how much children are consuming.
"By reducing the amount of sugar found in everyday products, industry could help make a real difference in improving the health of our children.
"Industry has been successful in the past around reducing salt - let's see the same with sugar."The British Government has called for the food industry to cut the sugar content in common products such as breakfast cereals, cakes and yogurts by 20% by the year 2020.
However, some have criticized this measure as purely voluntary and there is no obligation for the food companies to comply.
Professor Russel Viner of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, said:
"This vast amount of sugar consumption is storing up so much trouble for generations to come as we know obese children are five times more likely to become obese adults making them more likely to develop serious health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease, dental issues and associated mental health problems."The sugar in our children's food is a serious problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible, and we can't leave it to the food industry to do it. They need the sugar in their products for longer shelf life, but also to get young customers hooked on their products. They don't care about their customers, they just care about company profits.
So, what do you care about? Your child's health and future, or putting money in big corporations pockets?
Start feeding your family fresh food. There are plenty of fresh foods with naturally occurring sugars in them. Fruit, but not juice, has sugar and fiber - healthy when the two go together. It may take a while, but if you persist, they will get used to it in the end and you will make healthy adults of them with good habits.
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
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