Coca-Cola and sugar

Trouble is, I've got loads of apples and pears raining down around me from our fruit trees, and they just cry out to be made into crumbles. And what substitute is there at lunch for toast? What else can I put under my melted cheese?

Here are the findings of the leaked report from Public Health England.
www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/22/sugar-report-delayed-jeremy-hunt-tax-radical-action-obesity
Apparently the government wants to delay publication. The article is worth reading in full.

"The eight recommendations are:

1. Reduce and rebalance the number and type of price promotions in all retail outlets including supermarkets and convenience stores and the out-of-home sector (including restaurants, cafes and takeaways).
2. Significantly reduce opportunities to market and advertise high-sugar food and drink products to children and adults across all media including digital platforms and through sponsorship.
3. The setting of a clear definition for high-sugar foods to aid with actions 1 and 2 above. Currently the only regulatory framework for doing this is via the Ofcom nutrient profiling model, which would benefit from being reviewed and strengthened.
4. Introduction of a broad, structured and transparently monitored programme of gradual sugar reduction in everyday food and drink products, combined with reductions in portion size.
5. Introduction of a price increase of a minimum of 10-20% on high-sugar products through the use of a tax or levy such as on full-sugar soft drinks, based on the emerging evidence of the impact of such measures in other countries.
6. Adopt, implement and monitor the government buying standards for food and catering services across the public sector, including national and local government and the NHS to the ensure provision and sale of healthier food and drinks in hospitals, leisure centres etc.
7. Ensure that accredited training in diet and health is routinely delivered to all of those who have opportunities to influence food choices in the catering, fitness and leisure sectors and others within local authorities.
8. Continue to raise awareness of concerns around sugar levels in the diet to the public as well as health professionals, employers, the food industry etc, encourage action to reduce intakes and provide practical steps to help people lower their own and their families’ sugar intake."

jings vegetables?

Here here - or rather hear hear to the list above. It annoys me when companies like Waitrose do promotions on products like Crunch Nut Cornflakes. In fact it annoys me that confectionary, in the form of products like that, is marketed as a suitable - and even healthy - breakfast for kids. "Added vitamins" "multigrain" and other words. You know the sort of thing...

Found this yesterday: @DegenRolf: Providing consumers with easier-to-process nutrition information increases purchase intentions for UNHEALTHY foods. Couple of studies published by Springer. As someone commented on Twitter: "We're such a rational species".

I also read that we pay VAT on sugary "sports" drinks already as they are not categorised as food. If that is true, there's already a tax on sugar.

Sugar tax aside, Bags, what do you think of the rest of the recommendations from the PHE report?

There was some awful man being interviewed on Channel 4 news last night. I missed the introduction but it was clear he had a 'commercial interest'.

He came across as the Donald Trump of the sugar industry, a loathsome man denying everything and trotting out the same old excuses and clichés.

I heard one of those on Breakfast this morning. They all seem to hide behind the "calories" nonsense. "It would only reduce calories by..."
Yes, but it would be the harmful, empty calories you would be reducing, not good calories from healthy foods which would sustain and nurture the body.
All calories are not the same!

My overall view is that education is always the best answer, education how to resist advertisements (i.e. look at them with a critical frame of mind: who is advertising, why, etc), education about what sugar is and where it occurs.

Some of that is happening in schools already or else why did DD1 not want GS1 to have anything obviously sugary when he was a baby, and why is Minibags, at just fifteen, reducing her sugar intake–what she buys for lunch at school; what she asks me not to buy (e.g. Nutella. Actually I have a jar hidden because I like a Nutella sandwich once in a while) because she wants to avoid it–without any input from me?

So, in short, I agree with no8.

I did write some notes in detail but then GN wasn't working. It's below if you want to read it:

the number and type of price promotions in all retail outlets including supermarkets and convenience stores and the out-of-home sector (including restaurants, cafes and takeaways).

Not really bothered about this, partly because I don't find such things a problem, and partly because I'm not convinced such things are effective.

2. Significantly reduce opportunities to market and advertise high-sugar food and drink products to children and adults across all media including digital platforms and through sponsorship.

Alongside this I think we need more education to both children and adults about how to resist/be impervious to advertising – greater emphasis in education on critical thinking skills.

3. The setting of a clear definition for high-sugar foods

Yes, but I'm surprised this is felt necessary as I've always found it very easy to recognise high-sugar foods.

4. Introduction of a broad, structured and transparently monitored programme of gradual sugar reduction in everyday food and drink products, combined with reductions in portion size.

Education would (and already does to some extent) cover that.

5. Introduction of a price increase of a minimum of 10-20% on high-sugar products through the use of a tax or levy such as on full-sugar soft drinks, based on the emerging evidence of the impact of such measures in other countries.

Can someone point me to this "emerging evidence", please.

6. Adopt, implement and monitor the government buying standards for food and catering services across the public sector, including national and local government and the NHS to the ensure provision and sale of healthier food and drinks in hospitals, leisure centres etc.

Monitoring govt is always a good idea but govt does not actually run the NHS on a day-to-day basis does it? Re food in hospitals, yes it should be good food but we'd need to spend more to achieve that. Leisure centres? Dubious.

7. Ensure that accredited training in diet and health is routinely delivered to all of those who have opportunities to influence food choices in the catering, fitness and leisure sectors and others within local authorities.

Don t know about elsewhere, but the schools I've known already do this and always have, both primary and secondary.

8. Continue to raise awareness of concerns around sugar levels in the diet to the public as well as health professionals, employers, the food industry etc, encourage action to reduce intakes and provide practical steps to help people lower their own and their families’ sugar intake."

Yes. No.8 sums up my preferred approach: education. It takes longer than quick, imposed fixes but I think it is more effective in the long-term, which is what we really want.

I guess I'm just not enough of a control freak to want to legislate about people's choices. I'd rather they made better choices based on good education.

I agree that the effect of obesity and related health problems is a drain on the NHS but i think we'll get past that, as we have largely got past other horrible and killer diseases that used to affect large proportions of the population.

I think some useful scientific research could be done into why people overeat and in particular why they eat too much sweet stuff. I think that is beginning with the notion of sugar being addictive to some people. There will be sound evolutionary reasons why we are where we're at with food in the developed countries.

I would rather people made better choices too, but what I think you are underestimating is the huge power of advertising and the food industry. I don't have any problem resisting those things either and nor do my family, but that doesn't mean it is true for everyone. As an LA link inspector for primary schools, I worked with many of my headteachers on inventive and thoughtful locally-based projects projects about healthy eating. We saw good results many a time and some families who took it all on board and made long-term significant changes. Sadly, there were many who for whatever reason just didn't persist. The epidemic of obesity, tooth decay and type 2 diabetes suggests that things haven't got any better.
Why should people have to fight their way past the misinformation of vested interests and powerfu people whose only motive is profit? Wouldn't genuinely independent research and a consistent message be more helpful?

Last year Mexico was the first country to introduce a sugar tax and at that time it was reported that so far, there is no conclusive evidence from any country in the world that raising the price of sugar-sweetened drinks will affect obesity levels. The Mexico experiment is on an unprecedented scale and is forecast to prevent up to 630,000 cases of diabetes by 2030.

I posted earlier on here about Arkansas' 10 year plan to tackle obesity and it includes limits on sugary drinks offered by public sector employers. When I read the plan I was impressed and thought it was just the kind of approach we need. But I doubt it was easy to get through the State legislator and needed strong leadership.

I do think the government has a responsibility to tackle the obesity problem because it is responsible for public health. When tenders go out for school meals contracts, etc. healthy eating is part of the requirement, so I don't see why it can't place restrictions on what is sold in public sector buildings. Every hospital I attend has soft drinks machines in the corridor and that doesn't make sense to me. It's also a receipt development and would not have happened 20 years ago.

Personal choice and responsibility is part of the answer, but surely it goes hand in hand sensible direction from government?

Some people not using the education they've been given applies to all areas of human life, not just to food choices. I still think the number of well or better educated people is increasing and will continue to increase.

The government and even doctors have misinformed us as well as the food industry. Education is the best weapon against misinformation but people have to be free to choose whether to use the weapon. Attitudes take time to change and education is the best way to make them change.

x posts, wilma. Will read yours now.

The government just need to stop the shops putting ridiculously cheap offers on sweets near the tills and checkouts. No more 'buy 4 for a pound'. And no more making huge packs of biscuits much cheaper than a normal size packet.

And bloody Jamie Oliver should go and boil his head.

And if and when they reduce the size of chocolate sweets, they had better reduce the price as well. Some hopes!

And Jamie O is getting chubby too. Long may it continue. (evil cackle)

Bags with the best will in the world not everyone is going to be able to educate their way past the misinformation put out by vested interests. I really don't see why schools, who have lots of other important things to do, should have to devote time and effort to countering the lies and distortions of irresponsible companies. Do these companies not have any kind of responsibility to behave ethically?
I realise that you are taking the libertarian position in this, but in that case I don't see why it should then be the job of the education system to put things right.
Surely everyone in society has a duty to act responsibly?

Not all education happens in schools.

Yes, everyone has a duty to act responsibly. Everyone including parents who, I think, do know what is good food and what isn't, and who can say no to a whining or even tantrumming child and can explain why they are saying no, and can offer alternatives. If my kids were hungry when we were out the choice was a bread roll or a banana.

My mother educated me. She told me her rule about buying sweets and it was this: she never bought sweets when shopping with children. Never. So after the first two or three times we never asked because we knew the answer would be no.

That is education and pretty much any parent could do it if they wanted to.

Further to my comment about not all education happening in schools, I actually think most education where attitudes are concerned doesn't happen in schools.

I realise that's a separate issue, though it is connected.

Thanks for making that clear. I agree that it is the responsibility of everyone to educate. I just don't think people should have to educate themselves to overcome the lies of more powerful people who should be acting responsibly in the first place.
For example, every time we have these debates we get people saying that schools should teach cooking (you and I know that they do). I think that all of us who know how to cook, should all pass on our skills. We are all responsible for the education of the next generation.

I think Jamie Oliver's idea to print how many teaspoons of sugar are in soft drinks a better idea. People don't realise 5g is a teaspoon. With clear understandable information they can then make an informed choice and hopefully the right one. Without profits no funding of bias science. Remember the cigarette companies told us smoking was safe with research papers backing them .

Bags the people who make and sell this stuff engage in very sophisticated advertising and marketing, specifically designed to persuade people to buy, despite their knowledge and education. We can all think of very intelligent and well educated people who are seriously overweight I am sure... The psychology behind the behaviour is very complex.
ajanela if there were no profits they would just go out of business wouldn't they. I think that is unlikely to happen in my lifetime whatever governments do or do not do.
How about a gransnet campaign to discourage supermarkets from having special offers on sugary foods?

Yes, I agree, jess, about the complex psychology.

I'd be happy to support a gransnet campaign to try and stop special offers on sugary foods.