30 Oct 2017 Sugar Awareness Week 2017
Today marks the start of this years Sugar Awareness Week from Action on Sugar (30th October – 5th November), of which Food Active is an official partner.
Excessive consumption of sugar is fueling the obesity epidemic. In the UK and across the Globe, individuals are consuming too much sugar through soft drinks, confectionery, sweet baked goods and also through foods with high amount of hidden sugar. Sugar has been high on the agenda now for some time with PHE’s sugar reduction programme taking shape, including the Soft Drinks Industry Levy coming into force in less than 6 months time.
The aim of the event is an opportunity to celebrate the success of food industry (read our article on recent industry actions here), government and NGOs’ progress so far whilst also discussing the future of the sugar reduction programme and highlighting where further action needs to be taken.
We have created an online Sugar Awareness Quiz in support of the week – test your knowledge and awareness on sugars in the diet and share via social media.
Jenny Rosborough, campaign manager at Action on Sugar, has written a blog “Sugar Awareness Week – what’s the deal?” discussing new research published this week uncovering the high sugar content of high street meal deals and current movement by Government in relation to the sugar reduction programme.
Our campaign Give Up Loving Pop has also published a blog for Sugar Awareness Week “a spotlight on sugar and children’s dental health”, in light of new statistics this week indicating the current status of children’s oral health in England is poor – especially in the Northern regions on the country. We also created a quiz to test people’s awareness of sugar in popular soft drinks, especially those perceived to be healthier/low sugar options. Take the quiz here or find the results here – Sugar Awareness GULP Quiz
You can find out more about Sugar Awareness Week at the Action on Sugar website and by following the conversation on Twitter @actiononsugar and @food_active using the hashtag #SugarAwarenessWeek #ActionOnSugar
