Video: Is your office tea round brewing problems?
The Government is well aware of the public health implications of this and in March this year they announced a sugar tax for manufacturers of sugary soft drinks that will come into effect in 2018.
The Government also released its childhood obesity strategy in August which challenges manufacturers and retailers to voluntarily reduce the sugar content of produce popular with children by 20% by 2020, with a 5% reduction in the first year.
Don't forget tooth decay
Despite all of this, tooth decay is a sometimes forgotten side effect of all this sugar consumption in our diets. The Government’s obesity strategy only had one reference to childhood tooth decay in the entire report. But the high rates of tooth decay, especially in children are concerning and whilst the Government is making small steps in the right direction, more needs to be done to change the public’s habits when it comes to sugar – to improve public health as well as oral health.
So what about sugar consumed in the workplace? Employees are no exception when it comes to liking their sweet snacks and their tea rounds. In a Onepoll survey of 2,000 participants conducted in February the damage that work place tea rounds could be having on our oral health was highlighted. It showed one in 10 Brits are adding a spoonful of sugar to their tea at least three times a day, putting both their oral health and general wellbeing at risk.
According to the research 11% of sweet-toothed Brits believe the root cause of their excess sugar consumption is the temptation of the humble tea-round. One in 10 (9%) people surveyed admit that they drink tea with sugar at least three times a day and a further 8% admit to drinking at least three daily coffees sweetened with sugar.
Beware the hidden dangers
Even those who believe they’re going for the healthy option could be misunderstood, as one in five don’t think that fruit smoothies contained any sugar, despite recent research showing that smoothies stocked by major supermarkets contain over five teaspoons of the sweet ingredient.
Those that tuck into a tea-time treat with their cuppa are particularly vulnerable to exceeding the recommend daily allowance (RDA) of sugar. Over a fifth (22%) consider sugar laden office biscuits responsible for their consumption of added sugar, with a further 19% admitting that they knowingly consume sugar by snacking throughout the working day.
3pm appears to be a heightened time for sugar sinning, with 17% of people admitting that this is when they give into cravings for sweet stuff. Post-work drinks are also contributing to the problem. Almost a third of people surveyed don’t realise their post-work pint or glass of wine contains sugar, yet, one in 10 say that they drink these twice weekly. A further 48% are unaware that spirits are sugary.
If your employees are worried about the lack of knowledge surrounding their sugar consumption and you want to encourage them to reduce their sugar intake and not regularly exceed their RDA, there is still time to nvite them to go sugar-free this September, details available at www.sugar-free-september.co.uk.
This article was provided by Denplan.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Simplyhealth
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