The UK government has unveiled guidelines on how the food industry can cut sugar by 20% across a range of everyday categories including biscuits, breakfast cereals and yogurts, as part of its drive to significantly reduce obesity rates amongst Britain’s adults and kids.

Public Health England (PHE) has published the technical guidelines setting out the approaches the food industry can take to reduce the amount of sugar children consume through the everyday foods that contribute the most to sugar intakes.

They include the recommended sugar limits for nine food groups; breakfast cereals, yogurts, biscuits, cakes, morning goods like croissants, puddings, ice creams, lollies and sorbets, confectionery (chocolate and sweet), sweet spreads, which is sub-categorized into: chocolate spread, peanut butter, dessert toppings and sauces and fruit spreads. Plus there are also sub-categories due to the wide range of different products included in the sweet spreads category.

And food manufacturers have until 2020 to reach the goals - which are part of the government’s Childhood Obesity Plan - through a combination of food reformulation, reducing portion sizes and by shifting sales towards lower sugar alternatives.

However, the first challenge is to reduce sugar by 5% by this August.

According to PHE, there are three approaches the industry can take including reformulation, reducing portion size and/or the number of calories in single-serve products and shifting consumer purchasing towards lower or no added sugar products PHE will judge the success of the sugar reduction program by measuring the net amount of sugar removed from key food categories. The principles are to encourage the industry to go further and faster in sugar reduction in order to improve health outcomes, but also to give it flexibility in how it meets the Government’s challenge.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, is confident the sugar reduction goals can be achieved because of the UK’s “innovative” food sector.

“The UK has one of the most innovative food sectors in the world and it’s in everyone’s best interests to ensure it remains a dynamic and thriving sector of our economy. The scale of our ambition to reduce sugar is unrivalled anywher in the world, which means the UK food industry has a unique opportunity to innovate and show the rest of the world how it can be done. I believe reducing sugar in the nation’s diet will be good for health and ultimately good for UK food business.”

“We can’t duck the fact a third of children are leaving primary school overweight or obese and obesity generally is having a profound effect, not just on the costs for the health service, but on the overall health of the nation. Our economy is affected as obesity can lead to long term health problems that result in time off work.”

“Overweight and obese children are likely to carry this health problem into adulthood, increasing their risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Levels of obesity are higher in children from deprived backgrounds. Tackling the amount of sugar we eat is not just a healthy thing to do, but an issue of inequality for many families. If businesses achieve these guidelines, 200,000 tons of sugar could be removed from the UK market per year by 2020,” adds PHE’s chief nutritionist, Dr Alison Tedstone.

How is industry reacting?
Responding to PHE guidelines, Kellogg’s says it’s committed to giving consumers what they want, including removing 2,000 tons of sugar from one of its most popular kids’ breakfast cereals, Coco Pops, by the end of this year.
“Kellogg is a responsible business with a long tradition of helping improve the nation’s diet, from pioneering high fiber foods in the 1930s to adding folic acid to our products in the 1970s; from launching a long-term salt reduction plan in the late 1990s to adding vitamin D to all our kid’s cereals in 2000s,” says a Kellogg’s spokesperson.
 
“We remain committed to providing people with more of what they want in our foods, like fiber and wholegrains and less of what they don’t, like salt and sugar.”
 
“Our sugar reduction work across our cereal and snack foods, which most recently includes a 14% sugar reduction in Coco Pops, will see us remove 2,000 tons of sugar from the nation’s diet by the end of 2017. We are also helping people choose lower sugar options by investing in significant marketing activity to promote one of our most loved and lowest sugar options, Corn Flakes.”

Responding to the publication by PHE of its sugar reduction guidelines for industry, Ian Wright, director general of the Food and Drink Federation said: “Obesity levels in the UK are unacceptably high. Physical inactivity is a factor, but for many the problem overwhelmingly is with excess calories in the diet. With many of these calories coming from sugars, we support the Governments highly ambitious sugars reduction drive.

“The report represents a constructive platform on which to build a world-leading program of voluntary sugars reduction, right across food and drink. All parts of the food industry – manufacturers, retailers, takeaways, restaurants and cafés – need to step up. The guidelines are very stretching but manufacturers, for our part, are willing to take on the challenge.”

“Manufacturers know the special place their products have in peoples lives. Companies are working hard to overcome technical challenges and make gradual tweaks to favorite foods that regular customers can accept. They are also developing new low sugar alternatives. In some foods, portion size reductions will be necessary.”

“This program is only one piece of a much wider jigsaw of work that needs to be done to move towards better overall diets and more active lifestyles. We look forward to continuing to work closely with PHE and other partners as the program moves from design into implementation.”

Advertising and promotions
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) and British Dietetic Association (BDA) also welcome the “ambitious” guidelines, but believes much more needs to be done to really tackle obesity and points out that there are “no quick fix solutions.”

“The new government recommendation to reduce our intake of free sugars to less than 5% of food energy is very challenging and action across all sectors, including out of home food outlets, is going to be key to any success” said BNF director general Professor Judy Buttriss. “Some companies have already made significant changes to the sugar and calorie content of their products and there have been some encouraging announcements of plans by industry to step up to the challenge, but there is more to be done.
The BNF stresses the importance of the broader principles of a healthy diet and active lifestyle, emphasizing that just reducing sugar is just one part of eating well.

BDA Deputy Chief Executive Sue Kellie RD is calling on the government needs to further restrict the advertising of high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods before the 9pm watershed and ban promotions on those same products.

“Reducing the sugar in foods is certainly one way to tackle obesity, but behaviors need to change as well. The BDA would suggest that, whilst there are new tougher advertising guidelines on non-broadcasting media, this does not go far enough. The government needs to further restrict the advertising of High Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) foods before the 9pm watershed and ban promotions on those same products.”

“Providing education around healthy eating as standard is also important. Dietitians have the tools and skills to drive behavior change and help children and families to prepare and maintain a healthy diet. Many are already working in successful programs across the UK, which could be expanded with further support.”

“If we are to successfully tackle obesity and reduce its long term costs to the NHS and wider economy, we need to change attitudes and habits over the long term – there’s no quick fix.”

Calculating the figures
The 200,000 tons figure is based on data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Food diary data has been used to estimate the average daily total sugar intake, as well as the contributions to sugar intake from each of the food categories. The mid-year population estimate for 2015 from the Office of National Statistics has been used to estimate figures that reflect the UK population. The total estimated reduction of 200,000 tons of sugar has been rounded to the nearest 10,000. The NDNS food categories do not align exactly with the target food categories.

Sugar reduction is part of a wider PHE led food reformulation program. This includes work already underway with industry to encourage progress to meet salt reduction targets developed for 2017. Later in 2017, PHE will begin work to scope its approach to calorie reduction, aimed primarily at the food categories not covered by the sugar reduction program. After the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition review on saturated fat is completed in early 2018, PHE will include saturated fat in the program.