Out of date food labels 'mask true sugar impact on children'

  • Health

The way sugar is labelled on many foods is confusing and outdated. That's what the medic in charge of tackling obesity for the NHS has told ITV News.

Professor Jonathan Valabhji, the NHS clinical director on obesity, was responding to our investigation into how sugar is described on food labels.

We have found that products popular with children can have far higher sugar levels than many parents suspect - with one containing 112% of their recommended daily intake in a single packet.

Many of these products appeal to children, and are favourites in the school lunchbox.

Yet our findings suggest confusion arising from labelling laws means sugar levels you see marked on products may not be as helpful as they seem.

Products that are regularly consumed by children only have guideline sugar consumption on the labels that is designed for adults. What's more, those sugar percentages are way out of line with the latest NHS advice.

In a nutshell, outdated rules simply aren't working for the food manufactures or for millions of parents.

New guidelines on sugar

New recommended sugar intake for children and adults. Credit: Public Health Matters/Gov.uk

Most current labels give the sugar as a percentage of recommended total sugars. But three months ago NHS policy changed.

Now no more than 5% of calorie intake should be what's known as "free sugar".

That's the sugar added by the manufacturer - or which is naturally present in honey, fruit juice and syrups.

Our findings

As part of our investigation, we took four children's favorites to an independent nutritionist.

  • A smoothie advertised using cartoon fruit, which has 24% of an adults reference intake in one carton. For a child between the age of four and six this would actually contribute 112% of their recommended intake, says Stirling-Reed

  • An orange drink labelled as 22% of adult intake is actually 105% of maximum free sugar recommended for a 4-6 year-old under the new guidelines

  • One biscuit snack is labelled 8% for adults, but it's 37% of the new free sugar recommendation for a 4-6 year-old

  • A brand of cake bars marked as 13% of guideline sugar for adults is actually 62% of a 4-6 year-old's recommended allowance based on the new policy

Manufacturers we approached about the labels say their hands are tied by the current regulations that mean they are obliged to declare sugar levels as a percentage of an adult's recommended intake.

Government urged to act on labelling

Professor Valabhji told ITV News that more should be done.

Nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed told us: "If our government wants us to have less than 5% of our intake coming from free sugars, I think they need to do something to help us get to that and one of the things would be changing the labels."

After being approached by ITV News, the Department of Health told us its hands are tied by EU rules - but it is considering changes.