Limit children to just two (healthy) snacks each day

CHILDREN should be allowed just two low-calorie snacks a day to stop them becoming obese, guidance says.

Instead of treats such as chocolate bars and crisps, the under11s should be limited to two ‘healthy’ snacks of no more than 100 calories each.

The guidance – from Public Health England – warns children are eating three times too much sugar, with half coming from unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks. It says the average child eats almost 400 biscuits a year.

Today, the organisation is launching a major campaign to tackle the country’s child obesity epidemic, with TV adverts, radio broadcasts, posters and a phone app to drive home the health message.

It wants children aged five to 11 to eat no more than two low- calorie snacks a day rather than endless sugary treats.

As well as being under 100 calories, each snack should also have green or amber ‘ traffic light’ labels on packaging – indicating they are not too high in sugar, fat or salt.

That means parents should not, for instance, just give their child three-fifths of a Mars Bar – which would contain 100 calories but is packed with sugar – or three quarters of a packet of Mini Cheddars which is high in salt and fat.

Instead they should choose two low- sugar low- calorie snacks such as small pots of yoghurt, kid- sized malt loaf, crackers or rice cakes.

Fruit and veg snacks, however, are exempt from the limits, with parents urged to feed their children as much as possible to achieve their five-aday. It comes after PHE recently urged Britons to cut their meals to just 1,600 calories a day in what critics called ‘nanny-state meddling’.

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: ‘To make it easier for busy families, we’ve developed a simple rule of thumb to help them move towards healthier snacking – look for 100-calorie snacks, two day max.’ Nearly half a million under-11s in the UK are obese – one in ten of all children when they start primary school and one in five by the time they leave. Experts are increasingly worried the crisis will result in exploding levels of type two diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The Government is set to introduce a tax on fizzy drinks in April.

But new data reveals children are getting most of their sugar from snacks.

On average, children consume at least three unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks a day, with a third consuming four or more.

Meanwhile the Government also recommends four- to sixyear-olds have no more than 19g or five teaspoons of sugar a day, and seven- to ten-yearolds to consume no more than 24g a day, or six teaspoons.

But under-11s consume more than three times these limits – 14 teaspoons or 54g a day – officials found as part of research for the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. And 51 per cent comes from sugary snacks and drinks – with 15 per cent from soft drinks, 9 per cent from cakes and buns, 8 per cent from biscuits, 7 per cent from sweets, 7 per cent from chocolate and 5 per cent from ice cream.

Each year children consume almost 400 biscuits, more than 120 cakes, buns and pastries, around 100 packets of sweets, 70 chocolate bars, 70 ice creams and drink 150 glasses and cans of fizzy drink and sugary juice. Professor Graham MacGregor, an expert in cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said that ‘ we urgently need a revised and robust childhood obesity strategy to help tackle the country’s escalating obesa

‘Make it easier for busy families’ ‘Britain faces an obesity epidemic’

ity and type two diabetes epidemic – not to mention the cost of treating tooth decay!’

Theresa May in 2016 published a long-awaited Childhood Obesity Plan that ‘challenged’ the food industry to slash sugar by 20 per cent by 2020. But critics said it contained nothing that will force companies to act.

Professor Russell Viner, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘The UK is facing an obesity epidemic. We strongly support this campaign and its focus on parents.’ But he stressed: ‘We need the Government to show it is serious about tackling obesity by urgently updating and expanding the Childhood Obesity Plan.’

And Caroline Cerny, of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: ‘We need all sectors of the food industry to reduce sugar and overall calories in their products to help us all make healthier choices.’