Claiming that “Britons eat too much sugar” on a daily basis, the video warns of the effects that excessive amounts of “free sugar” (commonly found in biscuits, chocolate, flavoured yoghurts, cereals and fizzy drinks) can have on the body, including diabetes, weight gain and becoming addicted.
While the average Brit consumes 10% of their daily calories from sugar - equivalent to 60 g per day – World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines state that adults should eat no more than of 30g a day, which is just 5% of our daily calorific intake.
That said, traditional Christmas food and drink can cause our intake to increase massively - a slice of Christmas cake is “well over” the recommended 30g daily allowance, a glass of mulled wine contains “just under half of the total recommended intake”, Christmas pudding can have up to 45g of sugar per portion, and one mince pie can contain more than 22g.
Professor Franco Cappuccio of Warwick Medical School said: “As well as having a detrimental effect on your waistline, sugar consumption above recommended levels can affect your health in other ways. Eating too much sugar and the excessive calories and increase in weight heightens your risk of health problems such as heart disease, some cancers and type two diabetes.”
Dr Ben Richardson, department of politics and international studies, argues that it is probably not surprising that consumers have such a sweet tooth given the persistent marketing of confectionary, which often targets the young. He explained: “This is particularly noticeable around Christmas when a whole new generation of children will be socialised be into associating certain foods and drinks with the festivities.”