A group of experts have argued that children should only be given water to drink with meals in a bid to help combat the child obesity crisis. The call comes as Public Health England prepares to publish its plans for cutting the nation’s sugar intake.
Sugar producer AB Sugar said “demonising one ingredient” would not “solve the obesity epidemic”.
Dr Julian Cooper, head of food science at AB Sugar, said targeting sugar was not a “silver bullet” and advised people to balance their calorie intake against how much they exercise.
Advice currently states that no more than 11% of daily calories should come from sugars added by the manufacturer or chef as well as that from honey, syrup and fruit juice. All age groups in the UK however have failed to meet that target, especially young children.
Kids Should Get Into the Habit of Drinking Water
Scientists speaking before Public Health England’s announcement argued there were no easy solutions to tackling obesity. They all however agreed that sugary drinks is an issue that needs addressing.
Prof Tom Sanders, the head of diabetes and nutritional sciences division at King’s College London, says that kids should get into the habit of drinking water.
“The problem is people don’t drink water anymore. I think families should put water on the table, not pop, [which] should be a treat.”
Prof Susan Jebb of the University of Oxford advises parents to encourage their children to drink more water.
“Once they’ve been weaned, ‘children should be drinking water’ is absolutely the message. Milk is fine, but that should be the mainstay of our advice.”
According to the panel of experts the main impact of sugar on health is a source of calories in the diet that can lead to obesity, adding that further damage can be caused as a result of mass sugar intake such as type-2 diabetes and heart problems.
Public Health England will now publish plans to help the nation reduce its sugar intake and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition will publish a draft report on carbohydrates and health.
Proposals could include a tax on soft drinks or targeting the sugar intake of children and teenagers, with some even arguing that we may need to impose a sugar tax at some point in the future.
There seems to be a growing problem related to childhood obesity, and you can be certain that the sugar companies will feel like they are being victimised here, but how much of the responsibility truly lies with them?
If this problem is going to be tackled then it needs to be tackled from the source, which is the parents, and not made into a witch-hunt for food and drink companies.
Do you think that giving children more water can help combat obesity and how do you think this advice can be improved?
Please let us know your views in the comments below.
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