North/south divide over purchases of sweets

By Nicholas Robinson

- Last updated on GMT

Consumers in the north east purchase more sweets than those in London - research
Consumers in the north east purchase more sweets than those in London - research

Related tags Nutrition

Londoners buy fewer sweets than consumers in the north east of England, new data from a shopping and price comparison website has claimed.

Shoppers in the East Midlands bought the most fizzy drinks and West Midlands shoppers bought the most chocolate, according to the research from MySupermarket.co.uk.

Fizzy drink purchases were lowest in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset and chocolate purchases were lowest in Wessex, it added.

In a bid to tackle high consumption of sugary snacks and drinks across the UK, MySupermarket.co.uk has partnered with Public Health England’s (PHE’s) Change4Life Sugar Swaps campaign, it said.

Sugar Accumulator

Consumers using the price comparison website to make their grocery purchases would be able to use a real-time ‘Sugar Accumulator’, which would show the actual sugar content of an online basket of shopping, it said.

Areas that buy the most:

Fizzy drinks – East Midlands

Sweets – North East

Chocolates – West Midlands

Information will be gathered from recommended daily intake front-of-pack labelling and would suggest low-sugar alternatives.

High-sugar diets have been linked to heart disease as well as obesity.

Recent data from the National Diet Nutrition Survey (NDNS) showed that approximately one-in-five children aged between four and five were overweight or obese.

“Childhood obesity continues to be an issue in this country, we are all eating too much sugar and the impact this has upon our health is evident,” ​Alexia Clifford, marketing director PHE, said.

‘Address obesity’

“One of the ways that Change4Life looks to help address obesity in England is by working in partnership with a range of organisations in order to reach consumers in a variety of ways,” ​Clifford added.

Meanwhile, PHE’s Change4Life campaign came under fire for being a failure​ last year, when the NDNS’s shocking figures showed poor nutrition among girls and boys aged between 11 and 18.

Just 10% of boys and 7% of girls in the age bracket consumed the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, according to the figures. The data covered the nation’s diet between 2008 and 2012.

Areas that buy the least:

Fizzy drinks – Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

Sweets – London

Chocolate – Wessex

However, Change4Life refuted the allegations and Dr Alison Tedstone, PHE’s chief nutritionist, told FoodManufacture.co.uk at the time that the campaign had a direct impact on people.

The ​[NDNS] figures show that, overall, the population is still consuming too much saturated fat, added sugars and salt and not enough fruit, vegetables, oily fish and fibre, which over time increases the risk of heart disease and some cancers,” ​Tedstone added.

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