Sugar

In 2012 25% of adults in England, were diagnosed as obese, 37% were diagnosed as being overweight. The following year a report concluded that a third of five year olds, and a half of 8 year olds had decay in their milk teeth. That same year it was found that 34% and 46% of twelve year olds had tooth decay. In total obesity costs the National Health Service, 5.1 billion pounds a year in terms of treatment, and support.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey stated that 60% of children aged between 11 and 18 years old consumed 18 grams of sugar a day.

Sugar can be found in a variety of items including soft drinks, table sugar, confectionery, biscuits, buns, cakes, pastries and puddings. These types of food accounts for the revenue that confectionery companies generate on a yearly basis. In 2011 the confectionery companies made 6 million pounds. In 2014 it generated 8 million pounds. The reason for the increase is various, however one of the reasons is online advertising, which has increased significantly in recent years. Online advertising reached 6.3 billion in 2013 in the United Kingdom. It is forecasted that this would raise to 12.7 million or more in 2016.
Soft drinks are the largest single source of sugar for kids aged 11 to 18 year olds, shortly followed by soft drinks.

Public Health England recommends that increasing the price of high sugar products by 10-20% through a tax levy would have a likely effect on purchasing behaviour. This was introduced in Mexico and there was a 10 percent decline, in the purchase of confectionery, and high sugar content items.

It also states that various messages needs to be re addressed, including the five a day and the eatwell plate message. Finally more training needs to be implemented, specifically targeting child minders, fitness instructors, caterers and care home staff, to raise awareness of sugar, but also on nutrition and health.

So to summarise reducing sugar can be an ideal route to explore if we want to become healthy for 2016, as excess sugar can cause, dental caries, weight gain, and other long term health problems in the future. There are many ways that we can reduce the amount of sugar consumed, for example swapping cakes/biscuits/ chocolate for fruit, nuts or plain biscuits, however checking the labels are a necessity.
Another opportunity is to consume more water. According to a report carried out by Kantar World Panel, there was an increase in the amount of water consumed by residents in the UK. In 2013 the figure was 6 billion, and in 2014 this rose to 7.1 billion. The number of bottled water also rose by 9 percent to 2.9 billion in 2014.

If the advice above can be taken, and other changes are made, then this can help to reduce the chances of having diet related illnesses in the future.