Keep children’s snacks down to two per day

Health bosses hit out at the ‘grazing culture’ that is causing obesity rates to spiral among children

CHILDREN should be given just two snacks of 100 calories or less a day, in a bid to tackle spiralling obesity rates.

Public Health England (PHE) is urging parents to stop the “grazing culture”, after research found half of children’s sugar intake is from snacking. The average child eats three snacks a day and as a result one in three is overweight or obese by the time they are 11, the NHS data shows.

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE, said “the erosion of meal times” meant children were snacking throughout the day. Each year, children get through 400 biscuits, 120 cakes, buns and pastries, around 100 portions of sweets and nearly 70 chocolate bars and ice creams, washed down with around 150 drinks, including fizzy pop, their findings show.

“It’s probably more than that,” Dr Tedstone added, “because often children are having things which aren’t counted as snacks, such as a bag of chips on the way home from school. It has become a grazing culture and people just don’t think about how it all adds up.”

Children eat an average of 3.4 snacks a day, the figures show.

A child could easily consume 660 calories in snacks alone – a third of the daily requirement for those under 10.

PHE’S latest campaign, Change4life, encourages parents to keep the daily calorie count for snacks to 100 calories and limit snacks to just two per day. Dr Tedstone recommends keeping temptation out of sight, and learning to say no to pester power.

“If you have snacks in sight, children will want them,” she said. “Ask yourself, are they really hungry or is it a habit? You don’t always have to say yes.”

Healthier suggestions for snacks and drinks while at home and on the go include fresh or tinned fruit salad, chopped vegetables and lower fat hummus, plain rice cakes, crackers, malt loaf, crumpets and Scotch pancakes. PHE said the advice applies to all snacks apart from fruit and vegetables, as children should still be encouraged to eat a variety of these to achieve the five-a-day target.

Justine Roberts, chief executive and founder of Mumsnet, said: “The volume of sugar kids are getting from snacks and sugary drinks alone is pretty mind-blowing, and it can often be difficult to distinguish which snacks are healthy and which aren’t.”

PHE is working with the food industry to cut 20 per cent of sugar from the products that children consume most by 2020.

Graham Macgregor, chairman of Action on Sugar, said the findings were “shocking”.

He added that the country urgently needed a stronger childhood obesity strategy, including banning promotions on foods and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar.

“It’s ludicrous that billions of pounds are being spent by food and drink manufacturers on such promotions and publicity which will simply outweigh the benefits of this campaign,” he said.