A group of health experts is campaigning to reduce the amount of sugar added to food and soft drinks as part of an effort to reverse the UK's obesity and diabetes crisis.
Action on Sugar - modelled on the successful Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) - aims to help the public avoid products "full of hidden sugars" and encourage manufacturers to reduce the ingredient over time.
It says children are a particularly vulnerable group who are targeted by marketers of calorie-dense snacks and sugar-sweetened soft drinks.
Like CASH, Action on Sugar will set targets for the food industry to add less sugar to products over time so that consumers do not notice the difference in taste.
It claims the food industry would easily achieve a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in the amount of sugar added to products, which it says would result in a reduction of approximately 100kcal per day or more in those who are particularly prone to obesity.
It says the reduction could reverse or halt the obesity epidemic and would also have a significant impact in reducing chronic disease and claims the program "is practical, will work and will cost very little".
The group listed flavoured water, sports drinks, yoghurts, ketchup, ready meals and even bread as just a few everyday foods that contain large amounts of sugar.
Advisers to the group include Professor Robert Lustig of the paediatric endocrinology department at the University Of California, Assistant Professor Yoni Freedhoff from the University of Ottawa and professor of clinical epidemiology Simon Capewell from Liverpool University.
