Calls for fizzy drinks to be more expensive in restaurants to tackle childhood obesity crisis

FIZZY drinks should be made even more expensive in a bid to curb childhood obesity, leading docs are advising.

In an attempt to get British kids to slim down, experts have recommended stepping up measures to make sugary pop increasingly hard to get hold of.

Sugary beverages are believed to be one of the driving forces behind the UK's obesity epidemic.

Cochrane, an international organisation of health experts, has produced its looking at ways which science has found to be effective in cutting consumption.

It's time to up the price

Experts from the UK and Germany looked at 58 studies involving more than one million participants.

Most of the studies lasted a year and were conducted in schools, stores or restaurants.

And they concluded that the best way to get kids to give up sugary drinks was to increase their price, promote healthier drinks in supermarkets, get rid of all sugary pop in schools and use easier-to-understand nutritional labels.

The sugar tax isn't enough

The calls come after the government introduced a sugar tax to try to deter people from buying pop.

The sugar tax came into force on April 6, 2018 and saw a standard can of regular Coke go up by around 8p for a 70p can.

A 1.75ml bottle of coke has increased from roughly £1.25 to £1.49.

Sugar-free versions such as Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero are not subject to the tax.

Local government needs to do more

Commenting on the findings, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “More than a year since the soft drinks industry levy was introduced, manufacturers have cut the amount of sugar in their products while hundreds of millions of pounds have been raised in revenue to promote healthy eating in schools and tackle child obesity.

“However, as this report demonstrates, more can and should be done by the soft drinks industry to improve customer choice, such as better labelling and providing healthier alternatives."

He said that some energy and sports drinks have up to nearly 17 teaspoons of sugar in a 500 ml bottle – more than twice the daily allowance for adults.

“What is needed is a universal adoption of a labelling system which provides an instant ‘at-a-glance’ understanding of sugar content," he continued.

“Raising awareness of the amount of sugar in food and drink while giving families a more informed choice is crucial if we are to make a vital breakthrough in the fight against tooth decay and obesity.”

Kids are at risk

This week, a study found that fat four-year-olds are twice as likely to have high blood pressure by the age of six – raising their risk of heart attack and stroke.

One in five kids in England is overweight or obese when they start primary school, rising to one in three by the time they leave, figures show.