A major campaign to persuade people to cut down on sugar in their diet is to be launched by the government, flushed by the success of their crackdown on salt.
Britons will be persuaded to limit sugar intake and industry will be urged to cut levels in junk food as ministers have become convinced that more drastic action is needed to combat childhood obesity and tooth decay.
The Department of Health revealed the campaign at a conference in London last week, showing that the government is becoming impatient with the food industry's reticence to create healthier products.
Imogen Sharp, talking at the Royal College of GPs' conference in London, said: 'Sugar is next, once the present campaign on salt is over. We will be looking at a campaign to reduce the amount of sugar people are eating.'
Current estimates for England suggest 70 per cent of men and 63 per cent of women, 24 million people in total, are obese or overweight. A greater problem is the rising weight levels in children, with the number who are overweight having trebled in the past 20 years.
However, sugar is a harder subject to tackle than salt. Concentration levels of salt can be lowered gradually without a dramatic impact on the taste of the food and it costs the industry relatively little to do so.
Kath Dalmeny of the Food Commission said: 'Sugar is quite different because to really tackle it, you have to look at the frequency of consumption along with the fact that you are probably going to have to cut out some food groups entirely.
'The levels of sugar are very high indeed in some products such as soft drinks, as are sweet cereals. The problem is that sugar levels are not labelled on many products or are labelled as carbohydrates, so it is hard for consumers to know what they are taking in. They know that sweets should only be eaten occasionally but there's more confusion over desserts and snacks.'
The national guidelines on sugar state that children should be consuming no more than 50 grams of sugar a day, equivalent to 10 teaspoons, but many are regularly exceeding this. Sugar is a source of energy and occurs naturally in fruit; in this form, it is slowly absorbed through the gut. In its highly processed form, however, such as in cola or juices, it goes swiftly into the bloodstream. This causes the blood sugar level to rise quickly and then fall.
Apart from being the major cause of tooth decay, it is also causing obesity. It supplies 'empty' calories to the body because they contain no nutrients such as minerals, fibre or protein. Excess calories are stored as fat. It is also linked to insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes.
The White Paper on public health, expected next month, will see the government becoming tougher over school meals. Sharp told doctors that ministers had been shocked to find that what children were eating at schools bore little relation to existing guidance. She hinted there will be a clampdown on inappropriate food advertising for children.
Dr Graham Archard, obesity spokesman for the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: 'It is good news that the government is going to take this problem seriously at last. Sugar is a major problem that leads to obesity, diabetes and other serious medical conditions.'
Speaking at the conference Dr John Wilding, an obesity spokesperson, from University Hospital in Aintree, Liverpool, suggested fizzy soft drinks could carry health warnings, similar to those already found on cigarettes.
'American research has shown a clear link between fizzy drink consumption and conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Maybe we should start thinking about having warnings on the cans themselves,' Wilding said.
However, there are some experts who feel that the government is facing a credibility gap after years of taking its eye off the problem.
At last week's conference, Dr Martin Clark, a GP from Rotherham, asked Sharp: 'Why should we believe you when we have seen fast food outlets allowed in hospitals, junk-food vending machines in schools and sports playing fields sold off for profits?'
