RCPCH supports Action on Sugar's National Sugar Awareness Week

Dr Max Davie comments on the impact excess sugar can have on children and young people.

This week (12-18 November 2018), Action on Sugar is hosting National Sugar Awareness Week. Over the course of the week, organisations are joining Action on Sugar to raise awareness of the health impacts of consuming excess sugar (and calories) with the hope of educating the public to help them to reduce their consumption. This year's theme will be "Eating Out".

Dr Max Davie, Officer for Health Promotion at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

The consumption of excess sugar is closely linked to the ongoing childhood obesity crisis, taking casualty of around one in three children and young people by the time they leave school.

With the introduction of the soft drinks industry levy, and the ongoing consultation on energy drinks, the Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan is making steps towards reducing children’s excess sugar consumption and is helping to educate the public on the impact that added sugar can have on their health.  Further action is now needed to tackle this, including restrictions on junk food marketing before the 9pm watershed on TV, and improving nutritional education within all schools by making health education a statutory subject. Reducing intake of excess sugars and increasing awareness of the health impacts of good nutrition is key to helping children to stay at, or return to, a healthy weight across their lifetime, not only benefiting children but the health service too.