Snack advice for children

The request was successful.

Dear Public Health England,

What research has concluded that kids should eat only snacks that contain 100 calories or less?

Who conducted the research that provided the evidence to release such advice?

If the research was conducted by a third party organisation, how much were they paid?

Also, what was the objective of the research prior to starting the study?

Yours faithfully,

George May

FOI, Public Health England

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Change4Life, Public Health England

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Dear Mr May,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

PHE does not advise that children should eat only snacks that contain 100
calories or less.  Please see the press release which gives information on
the recent Change4Life healthier snacking campaign and the evidence behind
it.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

The below press release provides an explanation of the Change4Life
campaign and the data used.

 

[1]News Release 

2^nd January 2018

Half the sugar children consume comes from unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks

·         New Change4Life campaign encourages parents to “Look for 100
calorie snacks, 2 a day max” to cut children’s sugar intake.

·         Half the sugar children consume comes from unhealthy snacks and
sugary drinks.

 

Public Health England (PHE) is helping parents take control of their
children’s snacking by launching the first Change4Life campaign promoting
healthier snacks.

 

This is because half of children’s sugar intake, currently around 7 sugar
cubes a day, comes from unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks[2][i], leading
to obesity and dental decay.

 

Each year children are consuming almost 400 biscuits; more than 120 cakes,
buns and pastries; around 100 portions of sweets; nearly 70 of both
chocolate bars and ice creams; washed down with over 150 juice drink
pouches and cans of fizzy drink.^1

 

On average, children are consuming at least 3 unhealthy snacks and sugary
drinks a day, with around a third consuming 4 or more.^1 The overall
result is that children consume three times more sugar than is
recommended. [3][ii]

 

The new Change4Life campaign encourages parents to “Look for 100 calorie
snacks, 2 a day max” to help them purchase healthier snacks than the ones
they are currently.

 

Parents will be signposted and given special offers on a range of
healthier snacks, including fruit and vegetables at Tesco and Co-Op
supermarkets. They can also get money-off vouchers to help them try
healthier snack options, including malt loaf, lower sugar fromage frais,
and drinks with no added sugar.

 

Many of the unhealthy snacks children consume regularly are high in sugar
and also typically high in calories, for example:

 

·         An ice-cream contains around 175 calories

·         A pack of crisps contains around 190 calories

·         A chocolate bar contains around 200 calories

·        A pastry contains around 270 calories

The “100 calorie snacks, 2 a day max” tip applies to all snacks apart from
fruit and vegetables, as children should also be encouraged to eat a
variety of these to achieve their 5 A Day.

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said:
“The true extent of children’s snacking habits is greater than the odd
biscuit or chocolate bar. Children are having unhealthy snacks throughout
the day and parents have told us they’re concerned.

“To make it easier for busy families, we’ve developed a simple rule of
thumb to help them move towards healthier snacking – Look for 100 calories
snacks, two a day max.”

Justine Roberts, CEO and founder of Mumsnet, said: “It's shocking to see
how much sugar kids are getting from snacks and sugary drinks alone. As
parents, children are our number one priority but our mums say that
they’re often confused about what is healthy and what isn’t. This tip from
Change4Life will make it much easier for parents to choose healthier
snacks and to give them less often.”

PHE’s improved Change4Life ‘Food Scanner’ app also shows parents how many
calories, sugar, salt and saturated fat is in their food to help make
healthier choices easier. It can be downloaded from the App Store or
Google Play.

 

With a third of children leaving primary school overweight or obese^3,
tackling obesity requires wider action and is not just limited to
individual efforts from parents. PHE is working with the food industry to
cut 20% of sugar from the products children consume most by 2020, with
work to reduce calories due to start in 2018.

 

-ends-

Notes to editors

 

For further information about the Change4Life Snacking campaign, please
contact PHE:

·         Julia Bainbridge / [4][email address] / 07773 331815

·         Jessica Hampton / [5][email address] / 07949 171217

·         Dominique Lemon / [6][email address] / 020 765 48034

 

About the Change4Life campaign

1.     The campaign has been designed to provide practical advice to
families to help them choose snacks that are healthier than the ones they
are currently purchasing. It does not reflect a change to official
government advice.

2.    The Change4Life website and other campaign collateral will provide
parents with healthier suggestions for snacks and drinks while at home and
on-the-go, such as: fresh or tinned fruit salad; chopped vegetables and
lower fat hummus; plain rice cakes; crackers; malt loaf; lower fat cheese;
small low-fat, lower sugar yoghurt; sugar free jelly; crumpets; and Scotch
pancakes.

3.    Parents can sign up to Change4Life for money-off vouchers:
[7]https://www.nhs.uk/change4life 

4.    The campaign will run from Tuesday 2^nd January 2018 across England
for 8 weeks and will be supported with an exciting new TV and radio
advert, out of home and digital advertising, social media, partnerships
and nationwide roadshows.

5.    The C4L Food Scanner app can be downloaded from the App Store or
Google Play.

6.    The campaign will include an exciting new TV ad made by Aardman
animations, radio and digital ads, plus social media and outdoor
advertising. Additionally, 3.6 million leaflets will be made available to
families via primary schools, with information on healthier snacking and
encouraging them to sign up for more helpful tips, ideas and special
offers from Change4Life. Teachers will be able to download free new
teaching resources to help pupils learn about healthy eating and snacking
from the Change4Life [8]School Zone.

Additional figures

7.     Recent figures from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP)
show the number of obese children in Reception Year has risen for the
second consecutive year (to 9.6%) and has shown no improvement in Year 6
(20%).^3

8.    Over a quarter of children (28%) suffer from tooth decay by the time
they turn five^4 and tooth extraction is the most common cause of hospital
admissions in children aged 5 to 9 years.^5

 

About Public Health England

9.     PHE exists to protect and improve the nation's health and
wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through advocacy,
partnerships, world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, and the
delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally
autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. For more
information on PHE visit [9]www.gov.uk/phe or follow us on Twitter @PHE_uk

 

Calculation of contribution of unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks to
children’s diets:

 

51.2% of sugar consumed by children comes from unhealthy snacks and sugary
drinks each year. This includes biscuits, cakes, pastries, buns,
confectionery (sweet and chocolate), fizzy and juice drinks, but doesn’t
include fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies. (Rref: Secondary
Analysis of National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme
years 5&6 combined):
[10]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...

 

Foods contributing to sugar intake from snacks scaled up
over a year (including non-consumers):
Mean Mean % %
NDNS food Food consumption Sugar consumption Sugar contribution contribution
group group of g of g to sugar to sugar
code food/drink /day food/drink /YEAR intake from intake from
g/day g/YEAR snacks whole diet
Biscuits 7 15 3.9 5,605 1,408 17.1 7.8
Buns, cakes, 8D, 4.8 1,736 19.4 9.5
pastries 8E 19 6,923
Icecream 53R 14 2.9 5,070 1,062 11.3 5.8
Savoury 42R 0.0 7 0.1 0.0
snacks 10 3,567
Sugar 43R 4.4 1,591 12.2 6.7
confectionery 8 2,822
Chocolate 44R 3.7 1,345 13.7 6.7
confectionery 8 2,740
TOTAL (food)   73 19.6 26,728 7,150 73.8 36.4
Soft drinks 57, 9.1 3,323 26.2 14.7
58 288 105,352
Of which       0 0 0.0  
Fizzy drinks
with added 57B 3.5 1,264 8.0 5.0
sugar 32 11,696
Other drinks 57A,
with added 57C 5.0 1,842 13.7 8.2
sugar 68 24,679
TOTAL (food   28.7 10,473 100 51.2
and drink) 362 132,080

 

Calculation of number of snack products children are consuming each year

Kantar data was used to identify the highest purchased sugary snacks of
families with children aged 5-11 in each of the relevant categories to
calculate an average portion size weight for the category. The annual
total grams consumed within the category were divided by the average
weight of the portion to identify the number of products which make up the
amount of sugar consumed each year. The data can be found in the below
table alongside an example calculation:

 

NDNS food group Total weight consumed Average weight of Total product
each year (g) portion (g) consumption each
year
Biscuits 5608 14.18 395
Ice creams 5070 73.2 69
Sweets 2822 26.2 108
Chocolate bars 2740 40.56 68
Fizzy drinks 11696 330 (can) 35 (cans)
Sugary juice 24679 200 124
drinks
Cakes, buns and 6923 56.7 122
pastries

 

Mean consumption of chocolate confectionery in g per year: 2,740 / the
average portion weight for the category: 14.18 g = 2,740 /14.18 = 395
chocolate bars

 

References

[1] Secondary Analysis of National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS)
rolling programme years 5&6 combined):
[11]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...

[1] NDNS: results from Years 5&6 (combined)
[12]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...

^3 National Child Measurement Programme. Available at:
[13]http://content.digital.nhs.uk/searchcata...

^4 Dental health 2014/15 survey of 5 year old children. Available at:
[14]http://www.nwph.net/dentalhealth/survey-...

^5 Oral health profile. Available at:
[15]https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/or...

 

 

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