Please, nanny, ban fruit

The ongoing race by Labour MPs to come-up with the most ridiculous gimmick for inclusion in their manifesto for 2015 has a new front runner. Take a bow Andy Burnham, Labour’s nanny-in-chief the shadow health secretary.

 

According to Burnham, the government should ban high-sugar cereals and other foods which, he claims, are contributing to an obesity epidemic among British children.

 

Whilst it is reassuring that Labour seem to have finally woken up to the problem of childhood obesity, instead of a meaningful and considered policy proposal we are forced to endure yet another knee-jerk piece of headline grabbing.

 

It is reported that Burnham is considering proposing a 30% cap on sugar in cereals and other foods, despite even a cursory examination of the facts illustrating that the effect of this would be minimal.

 

A recent report by Which identified those cereals with the highest sugar contents to be Frosties (37g of sugar per 100g of cereal), Coco Pops (35g) and Sugar Puffs (35g). Put another way, the sugar content of a single 30g serving of each of these three cereals is 11.1g, 10.5g and 10.5g respectively.

 

Now let’s imagine that each of these cereals contained just 30g of sugar per 100g as Burnham is considering proposing. The sugar content of a single 30g serving of each would fall to 9g.

 

In other words, Burnham’s nannying fussbucketry would see little Andy eating between 1.5g to 2g of sugar a day less than he is now. Assuming that he doesn’t sprinkle a spoonful of sugar over the top to compensate (that wicked Mary Poppins has a lot to answer for).

 

Now, of course, reducing the sugar intake of children would help to tackle obesity. But to suggest legislating to force Kelloggs et al to marginally reduce the sugar content of their cereals would help in any meaningful way is nonsensical.

 

Now I must confess, I’ve never been a lover of Frosties, and I don’t think I have ever tried Coco Pops or Sugar Puffs. I’ve always been more of a fruit person.

 

For my breakfast this morning, I indulged in a packet of ready-to-eat apricots. No unhealthy cereals for me, nosiree. Just natural, healthy fruit. Or so I thought.

 

A cursory glance of the packet tells me that my healthy breakfast choice contained a whopping 60g of sugar per 100g. So now I’m in a quandary – should I put a handful of apricots in my son’s lunchbox tomorrow morning, or two handfuls of Sugar Puffs?

 

So please, Nanny Burnham, if you are serious about helping parents and protecting children, leave Kelloggs alone. Let’s ban fruit instead.