Let’s start a snack attack!

5th January 2018

Parents in Stockport are being urged to take more control of their kids’ snacks after shock findings show half of their sugar consumption comes from unhealthy treats.

The research, from Public Health England, also showed that children in England are eating nearly three times the recommended amount of sugar.

Now a new Change4Life campaign has been launched to persuade parents to swap their children’s unhealthy snacks for ones containing 100 calories or less.

Parents are also being encouraged to allow their children to have a maximum of two snacks a day.

In Stockport a quarter of all 5 year olds are overweight or obese and that rises to a third by the time they reach 11 years old.

Cutting down on your child’s sugar intake is the best way to help them stay at a healthy weight and not develop bad eating habits that will be difficult to shake later on in life.

Each year the average child is consuming more than 120 cakes, buns and pastries plus 100 portions of sweets, nearly 400 biscuits and around 70 chocolate bars and ice creams, all washed down by 150 juice drink pouches and cans of fizzy drink.

Dr Vicci Owen –Smith, Stockport’s Clinical Director for Public Health said: “We know that unhealthy snacking habits contribute to an increase in childhood obesity and tooth decay in our children as well as an increasing the chance of developing diabetes, obesity and heart disease in later life.

“Cutting down on unhealthy snacks is a relatively easy way for parents to encourage children to eat healthily. With nearly a third of children in Stockport leaving primary school overweight or obese, we really need to support parents to reduce the health risk that this brings.”

Cllr Tom McGee, Stockport Council’s Cabinet Member for Health said: “I was shocked to find out how much sugar children are consuming and I think Stockport parents will also be surprised too.

“Changing our children’s snacking habits can be a real challenge but hopefully this new Change4Life campaign will give parents and children the tools and information they need to find healthier snacking options.”

The Change4Life campaign is supported by an updated free “Food Scanner app” so that parents and children can check out how many calories, sugar, salt and saturated fat are in snacks so choosing a healthier snack is easier. The app works by scanning the barcode of products.