Cheshire East Council is launching a campaign to encourage children and adults to go ‘Fizz Free’ this February – to slash their consumption of fizzy drinks.
People of all ages are being urged to ‘make the pledge’ from next Friday (1 February), which marks the start of Fizz Free February. By ditching fizzy, sugary drinks for 28 days, it can help you on your way to drinking less sugary drinks for the rest of the year too.
Through this campaign the council aims to raise awareness of the health implications of drinking fizzy drinks, which often contain high amounts of sugar. Latest data from Public Health England on the nation’s diet shows that sugar now makes up 13.5 per cent of youngsters aged four to 10 and 14.1 per cent of teenagers’ daily calorie intake respectively. The official recommendation is to limit sugar to no more than five per cent.
The hard truth about soft drinks:
● You can save £438 a year if you stopped drinking one bottle of soft drink, per day for a year;
● Drinking just one 330ml can of fizzy drink a day could add up to over a stone in weight gain per year;
● Tooth decay is the leading cause of hospitalisation among children aged five to nine in the UK, with 26,000 youngsters hospitalised each year due to tooth decay – that’s 500 each week.
A large intake of sugar could contribute to these worrying statistics for Cheshire East:
● One in five (19.3 per cent) preschool children (aged four to five) have excess weight;
● Over one in four (28.5 per cent) primary school children (aged 10 to 11) are either overweight or obese;
● Some areas have at least four in 10 children who are either overweight or obese compared with one in 10in other areas;
● 22.2 per cent of five-year-old children have one or more decayed, missing or filled teeth.
To join in with Fizz Free February, just pledge to give up fizzy drinks for 28 days and tweet us using #gofizzfree. You can also download a pledge calendar from our website so each fizz free day can be marked off.
Councillor Liz Wardlaw, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for health, said: “Fizz Free February is a fantastic way to cut down on sugar and make positive changes. These changes are especially important in young children making small steps to a healthier lifestyle. Good luck to everyone going fizz free this February.”
For further information on the campaign and to download a pledge chart, visit: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/fizzfree . Advice can also be found on the council’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/cheshireeastcouncil and on Twitter at: @CheshireEast
Residents can help friends and neighbours, who do not have internet access, by downloading and printing off information from the website and giving it to them.
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