CRI听力:Phone App Helps Parents Cut Children's Sugar Consumption

Becky Hall is among the parents using a new phone app to check the amount of sugar consumed by her two sons Aaron and Ben.

A scan of the barcode shows her the sometimes surprising amount of sugar contained in the foods her family eats.

It's called Sugar Smart and it simplifies information by showing the sugar content of products, in grams and cubes, aiming to help parents learn which foods to avoid.

Public Health England is hoping the app will be an eye opener for many parents who may underestimate the sugar content in a range of foods.

Hall has been surprised by the high sugar content in basic foods like fruit drinks. But she is not convinced it is sufficient to change her shopping habits.

"There's sugar in everything, all products, even the no added sugar orange squash had sugar in. It is hard to read the labels, that makes it a lot easier to understand how much sugar is in them, so I don't think I'd use that in a supermarket and scan every item, that would be far too much to deal with."

Public Health England was galvanized to provide the app, and its figures show youngsters between the ages of four and 10 eat around 22 kilograms per year. That's the equivalent of an average five year old eating their own weight in sugar.
Alison Tedstone is the director of diet and obesity at Public Health England.

"Children in Britain are eating far too much sugar, three times more than the recommended amount and that's causing them real harm. Almost half of eight year olds have tooth decay, a third of 11-year-olds are obese or overweight, so we as parents need to think about helping our kids cut down the amount of sugar they consume."

Health officials say the app has been tested by parents who've judged it to be useful.

Campaigners against obesity though believe the new campaign is too tame.

Tam Fry is the spokesman for National Obesity Forum.

"I think shock tactics is the way now that we have to go. We've spent 25 years being namby pamby (weak) and very gentle with our information, that hasn't worked. We've got to choose something now which really pulls people up short and says if you do that, this will be the consequence."

Getting parents on board will be easier than getting children to understand why they should eat less sugar.

Each year obesity costs Britain's publicly funded National Health Service more than 5 billion pounds and that figure is set to double by 2050.