Food experts condemn UK supermarkets over failure to tackle sugar levels

theguardian.com:

UK supermarkets have been accused of encouraging people to consume more sugar, despite the huge concern about its significant role in causing obesity, rotten teeth and type 2 diabetes.

Food campaigners claim supermarkets are doing little to reduce the amount of sugar they sell across their product ranges and are misleading people about how much they are doing to tackle obesity.

In a report, the scientific research group Action on Sugar and environmental charity Global Feedback condemn leading supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi and Waitrose for increasing the amount of sugar people consume, while pretending to be committed to helping them adopt healthier diets.

Between them, Britain’s top 10 retailers account for 95% of all food sold.

In the report, the groups say: “The major companies, which guide daily purchasing decisions – supermarkets – continue to encourage sugar consumption through their drive for higher sales, despite paying lip service to healthy eating goals.”

Asked if they had set a target to cut back the total amount of sugar they sell overall across their range of foodstuffs, only one of the 10 supermarkets – Morrisons – told the campaigners that it had. Many others instead highlighted their plans to increase sales of healthier products, such as breakfast cereals and yogurts containing less sugar.

But, the report adds: “Promoting sugar reduction success without reducing sugar sales misleads the public and government to think that retailers are part of the solution to obesity and diet-related ill health, while in fact being part of the problem.”

None of the 10 chains provided evidence that they had successfully cut the total amount of sugar they sell. Iceland and Asda did not respond to a survey the two groups