Half of the sugar young children in England consume comes from unhealthy snacks and sweet drinks, figures show.
On average, primary school children have at least three sugary snacks a day, Public Health England found.
This means they can easily consume three times more sugar than the recommended maximum.
PHE has now launched a campaign to encourage parents to look for healthier snacks of no more than 100 calories – and to limit them to two a day.
The eight-weekChange4Lifecampaign will offer money-off vouchers towards items including malt loaf, lower-sugar yoghurt and drinks with no added sugar in some supermarkets.
Children between the ages of four and 10 consumed 51.2% of their sugar from unhealthy snacks, including biscuits, cakes, pastries, buns, sweets and fizzy and juice drinks, PHE’s National Diet and Nutritional Survey found.
Each year children consume, on average, some 400 biscuits, 120 cakes, buns and pastries, 100 portions of sweets, 70 chocolate bars and ice creams and 150 juice drink pouches and cans of fizzy drink, the data shows.
Too much sugar can cause tooth decay and obesity. -BBC
