Each year, Action on Sugar organise a national Sugar Awareness Week to help raise awareness of the damaging effect of too much sugars in our diet.
Taking place from 14th - 20th November, this year's Sugar Awareness Week theme is ‘Breakfast. The most important sweet meal of the day’.
Breakfast provides us with a great opportunity to start our day consuming a variety of essential nutrients, but unfortunately, commercial breakfasts are often high in free sugars. It’s time to highlight that we shouldn’t be sold a dessert for our first meal of the day.
ASO's statement of support:
The ASO fully supports the Action on Sugar, Sugar Awareness Week 2022 campaign "Breakfast. The most important sweet meal of the day" to raise awareness of the sugar content in breakfast foods and strive for policy change. This campaign could not come at a more critical time. We have seen a sharp increase in UK childhood obesity rates, which disproportionately affect those living in the most disadvantaged circumstances. Additionally, The Government proposes to abandon the effective and evidence-based public health measures for obesity prevention, such as the Soft Drinks Levy and restrictions of advertising junk food before 9pm. Obesity, and its prevention, is incredibly complex. It involves more than individual behaviour "energy in, energy out" and will require multi-sector approaches if we are to reverse the trend for increasing obesity rates in the UK.
UK Sugar Reduction Programme - What is Next?
A new Action on Sugar report released today on the UK’s Sugar Reduction Programme examines why companies have been slow to lower sugar levels in their products and makes recommendations for what action is needed to speed up progress.
To mark Sugar Awareness Week 2022 Action on Sugar are calling on the government to:
- Publish the final Sugar Reduction Programme Report.
- Implement a simple programme with specific, upper limits for all contributing categories of sugar to the diet (including alcohol and infant food), mirroring the government's well-designed salt programme.
- Make the programme mandatory to create a 'level-playing field' for industry: enforce compliance and reward progress by imposing financial penalties for non-compliance, plus explore other fiscal measures, e.g. preferential business rates for companies that produce heathier foods.
Visit the Action on Sugar website for updates.