PUBLIC Health England’s new Change4Life campaign is encouraging parents in South West to ‘Be Food Smart’ and take control of their children’s diets.

The campaign follows findings that children in England consume half the daily recommended sugar intake before the morning school bell rings.

They consume more than 11g of sugar at breakfast time alone, equivalent to almost three sugar cubes.

 The recommended daily maximum is no more than five cubes for 4 to 6-year-olds, and no more than six for 7 to 10-year-olds.

By the end of the day, children consume more than three times these recommendations.

For anyone aged 11 or over, the daily recommended maximum is seven cubes.

Latest figures show that childhood obesity in England has reached alarming rates with 21.9 per cent of 4 to 5-year-olds in the South West overweight or obese, increasing to 30.3 per cent in 10 to 11-year-olds.

Some of the main sources of sugar at breakfast time include sugary cereals, drinks, and spreads.

PHE’s new Change4Life campaign urges parents to ‘Be Food Smart’ and take more control of their children’s diets.

The new Be Food Smart app has been developed to highlight just how much sugar, saturated fat and salt can be found in the food and drink that their children consume.

The free app helps and encourages families to choose healthier options.

It works by scanning the barcode of products to reveal the sugar cubes, blobs of fat and sachets of salt they contain.

This allows parents to compare brands as well as featuring Food Detective activities for children and mini-missions which the whole family can enjoy.

The new app builds on and expands PHE’s successful Sugar Smart app launched last year.

Justine Womack, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead for Public Health England South West said:“We’ve developed our Be Food Smart app because the amount of sugar and saturated fat hidden in processed food plays a significant role in causing childhood obesity.

"We want to make it easy for families to know how much sugar, fat and salt they’re actually eating.

“Whether it’s at the breakfast table or what they’re buying on the way into school, the latest child obesity figures for the South West indicate that our children are simply eating and drinking too much sugar.”

The campaign helps parents identify the health harms of children eating and drinking too much sugar, saturated fat and salt, including becoming overweight or obese and developing tooth decay.

Commenting on the latest research findings, Sara Stanner, Science Director at the British Nutrition Foundation said:“When analysing a number of breakfasts from families across England, we were concerned to see the high amount of free sugars and low amount of fibre in many of these.

“We know a healthy breakfast can make an important contribution to children’s vitamin and mineral intakes and its consumption has been linked to many positive health outcomes.

"There are plenty of healthier options available so we need campaigns like Change4Life to help busy parents make the right choices for their families.”