Is your child eating too much sugar?

Public Health England (PHE) has launched its Be Food Smart scheme as part of its Change4Life initiative.

The campaign lets parents access a mobile app developed to highlight how much sugar, saturated fat and salt can be found in everyday food and drink their children consume.

It comes as figures from PHE show in the south east 20.9 per cent of children aged four to five are overweight or obese with that figures increasing to 30.8 per cent among children aged 10 to 11.

The data also showed children in England consume three cubes of sugar at breakfast time alone when the recommended daily intake is six for seven to 10-year-olds.

Angela Baker, deputy director of health and wellbeing at PHE South East, said: ‘The latest child obesity figures show just how important it is for families to know what they are putting on their plates.

‘That’s why we’ve developed our Be Food Smart app, taking some of the pressure off parents and helping them to choose healthier food and drink options.’

The app can be downloaded from the Apple store or Google play.