You could be eating an equivalent of five doughnuts a day in sugar says Hertfordshire County Council.
Two interactive sessions took place with on 10 February to give parents and children the opportunity to learn about how much sugar is in the food they eat.
The sessions included a game to guess the amount of sugar in cereals and drinks and ideas for healthy swaps.
After being told that four to seven year olds should have no more than seven bags of sugar in a year everyone tried to guess how much they thought they ate. Many guessed between eight and 14 bags.
On average, people consume 22 bags of sugar (5,500 sugar cubes) a year. That’s 2,000 donuts a year – more than five donuts every day!
A recent poll revealed 49 per cent of Hertfordshire residents don’t know how much sugar they are consuming every day.
Because of this, Hertfordshire County Council has started to raise awareness of the amount of sugar in everyday food and drink.
Alexandra Horlock and her husband Tim were at the event. Alexandra said: "We were on the bottle sorting game and were surprised by fact that the squash that we thought was low sugar had more sugar than coca cola."
Hanna Gibson, aged 9, is making some changes after this event and said: "I think I will be trying bran flakes and fruit and will be giving up the fizzy drinks and replacing them with squash and water."
Teresa Heritage, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Localism and Libraries, said: "Hertfordshire County Council wants to give every child the best start in life and nutrition is so important.
"Obesity can lead to serious health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
"Events like this aren’t to tell parents they are doing things wrong but to show them how simple changes can make a big difference to their family’s health."
To learn more about how much sugar you should eat, use the free Change 4 Life sugar smart app, or visit www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta/campaigns/sugar-smart/home.
by Isaac Ouro
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