In light of research demonstrating just how dangerous high sugar intake can be on a child’s health, it might alarm you to discover that a whopping 97% of mums don’t know the recommended amount of added sugar that their children should consume in one day. Furthermore, a staggering 73% of mums automatically reach for a sugary treat to soothe an upset child.
These are just some of the concerning findings of a recent research report carried out by MummyPages.co.uk; the first in a series of study reports into the obesity crisis in the UK.
Coinciding with the publication of these worrying figures is MummyPages.co.uk’s ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ campaign, which has been launched to uncover the key triggers for the nation’s growing obesity problem. Using data collected from real mums all over the country, MummyPages.co.uk’s aim is to guide both parents and policy-makers through how to effectively tackle this serious health issue.
As the above statistics show, MummyPages.co.uk discovered that our ‘Mary Poppins’ attitude to sugar in our children’s diet is compounding the obesity crisis, but this can’t change without education – something that was glaringly obvious in the research.
Education on the sugar content in foods is severely lacking among mums all over the country, with research revealing that:
- 96% of mums don’t know how many grams of sugar are equal to a teaspoon of sugar
- 98% of mums don’t know the maximum amount of added sugar they should consume in a day
- 97% of mums don’t know the recommended amount of added sugar their children should consume in a day
It should be a priority then, to ensure that parents know the basics when it comes to sugar intake and their children – something that, it would appear, clear labelling on food products could easily rectify. Indeed, our feedback showed that:
- 91% of mums advocate a teaspoon labelling guide to sugar on all food products
- 90% of mums think that food labels should clearly identify serving sizes with a corresponding sugar quantity in teaspoons so that it is readily understood
- 67% of mums think that food labels should be accompanied by the WHO guidelines outlining recommended adult and child sugar, salt and saturated fat consumption
The ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ campaign is coming at just the right time, given that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has just unveiled newly-revised recommendations which cut the percentage daily calorie intake in the form of added sugar from 10% to 5%
Commenting on the feedback from mums nationwide, spokesmum for MummyPages.co.uk Laura Haugh said that overly-complicated labels are making life difficult for mums as they endeavour to provide their children with as healthy a diet as possible.
“Only a fifth of our mums say they read food labels when out shopping, and for those that do they need a magnifying glass and a degree in nutrition to understand them,” she said.
Addressing the Prime Minister, Ms Haugh added: “We want David Cameron to back our MummyPages ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ campaign to not only denote sugar quantities on food labels in teaspoons per portion size, but also to make it mandatory to include the recommended guidelines for daily sugar, fat and salt consumption on food labels.”
Explaining the significance of this simple action, Ms Haugh said: “This small change would not cost the consumer any more money, unlike the ‘sugar tax’ previously suggested and unlikely to have the desired long-term effect in tackling our spiralling obesity crisis. Instead it would have a far more powerful and long-lasting impact, by educating adults and children alike as to how much sugar they are consuming in their foods relative to what they should be.”
