The study from Birmingham and Leeds Universities and presented at the European Obesity Summit in Gothenburg found that children aged five were consuming an average of 75g of sugar a day - around 19 teaspoons - and 40% of this came from fizzy drinks, fruit juice and smoothies, the Daily Mail has reported.
Researchers asked the parents of more than 1,000 five and six year olds what their children had eaten in the previous 24 hours and then calculated how much ‘free sugar’ was in each item.
Fizzy drinks, squash and fruit drinks account for 24.8% of children’s sugar intake; fruit juice and smoothies for 15.4%; cakes, buns and sponge puddings for 8.1%; yoghurt and fromage frais for 6.9% and sweets, toffees and mints for 5.1%.
NHS guidelines released last year suggested children should consume 19g a day, but previous research released over the past few months has indicated that children are consuming their body weight in sugar each year.