Young readers snack their way to success at libraries

George Downes with his prize at Shoreham Library

Families across West Sussex have been busy learning which everyday foods and drinks contain the most sugar, and spotting healthier snacks and drinks.

This spring, hundreds of people entered the Healthier Snacking Challenge at libraries across the county, which supported the national Public Health England Change4Life nutrition campaign, aiming to help parents to reduce children’s sugar intake by introducing the new simple tip – ‘Look for 100 calorie snacks, two a day max’ .

The treasure-hunt-style quiz developed by West Sussex Public Health, as part of the West Sussex Sugar Reduction Programme, and delivered in partnership with the West Sussex Library Service, saw them scouring the bookshelves for answers to a number of questions about how many cubes of sugar are in family favourites, such as ice cream, cans of fizzy drink and juice cartons.

They also identified which foods made the perfect healthy snack, and which ones could lead to toothache.

Twelve lucky winners were presented with a copy of Children’s Cookbook, Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows and Purples.

The county council says youngsters are getting half their sugar intake from soft drinks and unhealthy snacks, like cakes and biscuits, and that children with a healthier diet are happier and better able to concentrate in school.

Childhood obesity is a serious concern with figures showing that in West Sussex 20.7 per cent of reception-aged children and 28.6 per cent of year-six children were overweight or obese in 2016/17.