The ‘little-known’ calculator could help people who need to make healthy lifestyle changes
The NHS has a ‘little-known’ tool online that can help people keep track of their sugar intake to potentially lower their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and more. It comes as the NHS has warned that children are consuming more than twice the recommended amount of sugar.
With snacks and sugary drinks being listed as the most common culprits by the health service, many parents will be interested in tips and tricks to help their families make healthier choices. As the NHS explains, eating and drinking too much sugar can have serious consequences.
“Too much sugar is bad for children’s health as it can lead to the build-up of harmful fat on the inside that we cannot see,” it says. “This fat can cause weight gain and serious diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Having too much sugar can also lead to painful tooth decay – every ten minutes, a child in England has a tooth removed in hospital.”
While sugar naturally occurs in popular food items such as plain milk, plain yoghurt, fruit and vegetables, it’s added sugar that the NHS wants parents to pay attention to. Added sugar refers to sugar added to food and drink to sweeten them, such as when fruit juice, syrup, or honey is added.
The good news is that the NHS website has lots of information about the foods to watch out for so that parents can help their children make informed choices and make healthy choices for themselves. There’s also a sugar calculator that people can use to check the sugar levels in the food and drink their family eats each day.
The ‘little-known’ tool is primarily for parents, as reflected in the food and drink choices included in the calculator. However, it could be helpful to people of any age.
The sugar calculator asks parents to input all of the sugary food and drink their children eat throughout the course of a day, to show how quickly the total can add up. The NHS explains: “Use our calculator for a quick check on how much sugar is in some of the everyday food and drink your child might have. You’ll be surprised how quickly it can add up!”
There are two sections to complete. The first question asks parents to input their child’s age. The second question asks parents to explain how often their child eats sugary cereal, split pot yoghurts, sugary cola, sugary milkshakes, juice drinks, cake bars, chocolate biscuits, chocolate pudding pots, chocolate bars, and fun-sized sweets each day.
As the NHS points out, even some options parents might consider healthy can be high in sugar. Cereal bars, for instance, tend to include three cubes of sugar, according to the health service.
When the quiz calculates the results, it then explains how many sugar cubes are included in a child’s diet compared to the recommended daily maximum. The NHS also signposts resources for families, highlighting healthy food swaps. More advice is available on the NHS website.
