09/01/2015 - Permalink

New Change4Life campaign encourages families to make Sugar Swaps

Related topics: Health / Partner organisations

News from our partners Public Health England

New data reveals almost 36% of children in their last year of primary school in the West Midlands region are already overweight or obese. 

A new Change4Life campaign encourages parents to cut down the amount of sugar their children consume by making one or more simple swaps.

Eating and drinking too much sugar means extra calories, which causes fat to build up inside the body.  This can lead to heart disease, some cancers or type 2 diabetes later in life.

Sugar can also have a devastating impact upon dental health, an integral part of overall health.  Tooth decay was the most common reason for hospital admissions for children aged five to nine in 2012-13.  28% of 5 year olds in England have tooth decay and of these, 24% have five or more teeth affected. When children are not healthy this affects their ability to learn, thrive and develop.

Across the West Midlands region a high percentage of children start school either overweight or obese, which only increases by the time they are in their last year of primary school:

  • In the West Midlands region as a whole, 23.5% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 35.8% for those in their last year of school

For each upper tier council area in the region:

  • In Birmingham 23.2% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 38.8% for those in their last year of school
  • In Solihull 21.1% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 30.9% for those in their last year of school
  • In Coventry 24.5% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 5% for those in their last year of school
  • In Warwickshire 20.7% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 30.3% for those in their last year of school
  • In Wolverhampton 26.4% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 41.8% for those in their last year of school
  • In Walsall 24.1% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 40.3% for those in their last year of school
  • In Dudley 26.4% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 6% for those in their last year of school
  • In Sandwell 21.8% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 39.4% for those in their last year of school
  • In Stoke-on-Trent 24.5% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 36.5% for those in their last year of school
  • In Staffordshire 23.6% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 32.8% for those in their last year of school
  • In Shropshire 23.5% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 30.3% for those in their last year of school
  • In Telford & Wrekin 25.9% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 37.3% for those in their last year of school
  • In Worcestershire 24.2% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 33.3% for those in their last year of school
  • In Herefordshire 19.3% of children start school either overweight or obese, which then becomes 31.1% for those in their last year of school.

Children who are overweight or obese when they are young are far more likely to become overweight or obese adults and these figures demonstrate the increasing need to address children’s diet and limit future health problems.

While guidelines state that no more that 10% of a person’s daily energy or calorie intake should be made up of sugar, at present, children aged 4-10 years are consuming up to 50% more than this. Children aged 4-10 get 17% of their daily sugar from soft drinks; 17% from biscuits, buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies, 14% from confectionery, 13% from fruit juice, and 8% from breakfast cereals.

Change4Life Sugar Swaps launches following a new survey amongst Netmums users who were polled on their views on sugar.  The results highlight that nearly half (47%) of mums surveyed think their family has too much sugar in their diets and two thirds of mums (67%) are worried about the amount of sugar their children consume.

Change4Life recommends four simple Sugar Swaps for mums to choose from, tackling different ‘sugar occasions’ in the day:

  • the Breakfast Swap: sugary cereal for plain cereal eg whole wheat biscuit cereal
  • the Drink Swap: eg from sugary drinks to sugar-free or no-added-sugar drinks
  • the After School Swap: eg from muffins to fruited teacake
  • the Pudding Swap: eg from ice cream to low-fat, lower-sugar yoghurt.

To understand the sugar issue from mums’ perspective, Public Health England pa rtnered up with Netmums and the University of Reading to deliver a ‘Family Sugar Challenge’. A unique activity that involved 50 families, 24 of which were selected based on their geographical location for the initial analysis.  The diets of the families were analysed in terms of sugar content, before and during the Change4Life’s Sugar Swaps.  This early analysis yielded surprising results:

  • on average the families were consuming 483g of sugar a day at the beginning of the challenge
  • their sugar intake was reduced to 287g per day when making Sugar Swaps
  • this meant an average daily saving of 196g of sugar per family each day, or 49 sugarcubes.

Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, said:

“Reducing sugar intake is important for the health of our children both now and in the future. We are all eating too much sugar and the impact this has on our health is evident.

“This campaign is about taking small steps to address this.  We know from past campaigns that making simple swaps works and makes a real difference.  This year we wanted to be even more single minded in our approach, which is why we are focusing on sugar alone.

“The family challenge highlights that simple swaps could lead to big changes if sustained over time and we urge parents in the West Midlands region to try one or more simple swaps in January and beyond.” 

Cathy Court, founder of Netmums, said:

“We know that mums want to provide a healthy diet for their children but balancing a number of competing priorities, including healthy eating, can be tricky. Although sugar consumption is a worry for parents, we understand that taking steps to reduce sugar can be really difficult.  We hope that these simple Sugar Swaps from Change4Life will make it easier for parents to reduce their family’s sugar intake.”

Change4Life Sugar Swaps launched on 5 January 2015 with television, radio, digital and out of home advertising, with an email support programme and a national road show visiting 10 locations.

Change4Life Sugar Swaps is supported by Asda, Tesco, Co-op, Aldi, Coca-Cola (Diet Coke and Coke Zero), Morrisons, mySupermarket, and the Lead Association for Catering in Education (LACA).

Throughout the campaign, families will be able to register for their freeE Sugar Swaps pack which they will receive through the post. The packs are filled with hints, tips and recipe suggestions designed to help parents cut down the sugary foods and drinks consumed by their children, plus money-off vouchers, swap cards and stickers. To sign up, families just need to search Change4Life and register. 

For further information about the Change4Life Sugar Swaps campaign please contact the PHE press office on 020 8327 7901 / Change4LifePressOffice@freuds.com (out of hours 0208 200 4400)

For more information contact PHE West Midlands press office on 0121 232 9223/4