Youngsters are not eating enough fruit and vegetables and too many sugary sweets and drinks, according to NHS chief executive Simon Stevens.
Sugar in sweets, food and drink is “poisoning” our children and putting them in danger of serious illness, a leading health official has warned.
And Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, insisted: “We’ve got to stop it.”
His stark message follows alarming research that looked into the nutrition of 8,800 schoolchildren.
Results showed youngsters did not get enough fruit and vegetables, while too many skipped breakfast.
Mr Stevens urged parents as well as food producers to help fight the problems.
He said: “We have responsibilities. When your children come home after school, it’s water or milk, not fizzy drinks and juice.
“It’s cut up apples, not sugary bars. We are going to need reformulation to take sugar out of foods in the same way that has happened with salt over the past years.”
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, he added: “Retailers and food producers are going to need to take action.
“If that doesn’t happen, in effect what we are doing is a slow burn of food poisoning through all of this sugar that then goes on to cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease.
"That’s what we are doing to our kids, we’ve got to stop it.”
A British Nutrition Foundation study, marking the start of Healthy Eating Week, revealed 12% of primary and 11% of secondary school children claimed they ate no fruit or vegetables.
Just 29% of secondary kids said they hit the required levels, while official figures showed only 9% of children aged 11 to 15 achieved the recommended amount.
Kids and food
The average daily intake in this group was 2.9 portions despite most youngsters knowing the “five-a-day message”.
About 24% of secondary children did not have breakfast on the day of the survey, despite claims it improved concentration.
About two thirds of pupils said they had fewer than six drinks a day.
Six to eight, about two litres, is the recommended amount.
The foundation’s Roy Ballam said of the survey: “Children need enough food and water to enable them to play an active part in school life and achieve their potential.
“These results show that many young people are potentially unable to perform to the best of their ability.”
