Campaign against the amount of sugar in your fruit juice

Campaigners are speaking out against the recommendation of fruit juices as part of a child’s diet, as some juice products contain more sugar that fizzy drinks.
Juices have often been promoted as an alternative to fruit for kids to drink in order to help boost their way to five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Even many adults find it hard to eat so many portions of fruit and veg, in the time restrictive, fast food laden world we live in. Fruit juice was one of the easiest ways to give children a boost to their vitamins. Currently, Public Health England (PHE) advises that 150ml of unsweetened fruit juice can count as one of the portions of fruit and veg.
Action on Sugar, a campaign group, have found that a child’s juice box can contain over 6 teaspoons of sugar, which they have said be more than some fizzy drinks contain.
The issue is that sugar can lead to obesity, something that is becoming more of a problem, and a persistent intake of sugar throughout life can lead to type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the health services should not be recommending it, some say.
Dr Alison Tedstone of PHE said contrary to these claims that “Fruit juice is a useful contribution towards our five a day, however, because the process of juicing releases sugars from the fruit we recommend that you try to limit your fruit juice to 150ml a day, including that from smoothies and only consume these and other sugary drinks with meals to reduce the risk of tooth decay.”
Be aware of how much sugar you and your family are taking in per day in order to relieve the risks of health issues.

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