Sugar Apps Approval

Parents are being urged to sign up for “sugar smart app” that reveals the sugar content of food and drink.

15:44 22 March 2017

Parents are being urged to sign up for a free “sugar smart app” from Public Health England to easily determine the sugar content of food and drink. The app scans barcodes and reveals total sugar in cubes or grams and is hoped to help combat obesity, tooth decay and type two diabetes.

 

PHE’s new Change4Life advertising campaign suggests that on average, children between the ages of four and ten are consuming three times more than the sugar limit.

 

The app, which has been developed to raise awareness on how much sugar is contained in everyday food and drink, is hoped to encourage families to choose healthier alternatives.

 

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist from Public Health England, said: "If there's one thing I'd strongly encourage parents to do, and that's to swap sugary drinks out of their kids' diets for either a low-sugar drink or water or low-fat milk, which would be a really excellent choice."

 

The app works on more than 75,000 products and is free to download from app stores.