wo thirds of people support a ban on sugary drinks in all UK schools and academies, suggests a poll carried out for the BBC.
The Populus poll of 1,000 adults in Britain also found more than four out of 10 people would support a tax on sugary drinks.
And 59% said warnings on packaging - similar to those on cigarettes - would encourage them to eat more healthily.
Sugar industry representatives said demonising sugar was too "simplistic".The poll - which was
carried out for BBC 5Live's Richard Bacon programme - suggests a majority of people in the UK take
a harder line on sugary foods and drinks in schools than government policy,
which bans the sale of fizzy drinks, crisps and sweets in local authority-run
schools, but leaves the decision of whether children can bring them into
schools up to head teachers.
These rules do not
apply to academies and free schools which together make up more than half of
state secondary schools.
Some heads, including
that of one primary school in London,
have opted for a complete ban on children bringing in sugary and caffeine-based
energy drinks.
'Demonised'
But representatives
from the sugar industry say it is being unfairly highlighted as the main cause
of health problems, in particular obesity.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
There is probably an over consumption of all
calories; not sugar per se.”
Dr Julian CooperHead of Food Science, AB Sugar
·
Q&A: How much sugar should we eat?
Dr Julian Cooper, head
of food science at AB Sugar, told the BBC: "It's quite simplistic just to
demonise one ingredient to the exclusion of all others. We would say that we're
probably consuming too many calories and probably doing too little exercise and
activity.
"There is
probably an over consumption of all calories; not sugar per se."
He added: "There
are some products that potentially you can reduce sugar, there's no doubt about
it.
"So say for
example a tomato sauce that you use for making pasta: if you look at the total
sugars in that product, over 90% of the sugars come from the tomatoes.
"So, yes you may
have a potential to say 'let's take the 10% out' - once you go below that
figure you're starting to remove the tomatoes and personally I actually like
tomatoes in my tomato sauce on my pasta."
Under government
policy schools under local authority control can only supply drinks listed on a drinks table and states that schools should "remove drinks
which have no nutritional value and can cause tooth decay" and should
"encourage children to drink water or drinks such as milk and fruit or
vegetable juices, which provide important nutrients like calcium, vitamin C and
carotenoids".
These food standards
do not apply to academies, free schools or to private schools - although they
will do from later on this year.
Food choices
But the 5Live poll
suggests most adults support a tougher line, wanting to see a total ban on such
food in all schools.
And three quarters
supported fixed limits on the amount of sugar used in certain foods, with 60%
saying they wanted supermarkets to stop promotions on unhealthy food products.
In November, the
president of Coca-cola Europe was challenged on Newsnight about the amount of
sugar in its drinks
But Dr Alison
Tedstone, a nutritionist at Public Health England, said banning such foods and
drinks in schools may not be necessary: The Department of Education needs to
consider that carefully.
"Actually
academies from this year will have the same guidance around food as local
authority run schools and so the majority of them are captured by this
guidance."
A spokesman for
industry body the Food and Drink Federation said: "The food and drink
industry is committed to supporting improvements in public health.
"Whether through
labelling, education, reformulating old favourites or creating new healthier
options, food and drink manufacturers have invested in a wide range of measures
to empower and enable consumers to make food choices appropriate to their
lifestyle.
"Having
eliminated artificial transfats and substantially reduced levels of saturated
fat and salt in a wide range of products, many manufacturers are now looking at
how they can help consumers to reduce their calorie intake through a wide range
of innovative approaches."
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