Children 'Consuming Body Weight In Sugar'

Some of those aged between four and 10 eat around 22kg per annum, the equivalent to the average weight of a five-year-old.

The figure has prompted a new Government campaign called "Change4Life" urging parents to make healthier food choices.

It includes a free smartphone app called "Sugar Smart" which allows users to learn the sugar content of products, in grams and cubes, by scanning barcodes.

The campaign also highlights the risk of tooth decay as well as future health concerns for overweight children.

In 2013, almost a third of five-year-olds and almost half of eight-year-olds had tooth decay, the most common reason for five to nine-year-olds being admitted to hospital.

A fifth of four to five-year-olds and a third of 10 to 11-year-olds are overweight or obese.

Public Health England (PHE) say overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults and to be prone to serious health issues.

Dr Alison Tedstone, from PHE, said youngsters aged five should not consume more than 19 grams, or five cubes, of sugar per day.

She said: "Children are eating too much sugar; more than three times the recommended amounts and it's causing them real problems.

"We as parents need to think about how we encourage our children to eat less ... Parents struggle with knowing how much sugar is in food and labels.

"This app is easy to use. We've tested it with parents and they found it very useful."

Becky Hall, a mother with two sons called Ben and Aaron from Worcestershire, says she would use it, although not all the time.

"I think it's going to help a lot as it gives you a guideline of what children are meant to have and how much is in each product," she said.

"It is harder to read food labels - this app makes it a lot easier to understand what sugar is in foods.

"But I don’t think I would use it in a supermarket. That would be far too much to deal with."

Tam Fry from the National Obesity Forum, however, says he is not "terribly impressed" by the smartphone app and believes the campaign overall does not go far enough.

He said: "I think shock tactics is the way we have to go. We have spent 25 years being namby pamby and that hasn't worked.

"We need to do something that pulls people up short and say: 'These are the consequences'.

"That's the type of message people would understand."

Obesity costs the NHS £5.1bn a year, but it is a figure projected to almost double by 2050.