PARENTS are being urged to cut down the amount of sugar in their children’s food following figures showing almost a quarter of youngsters are already overweight or obese by the time they start primary school.

Figures released by Public Health England have shown 24.2 per cent of children in Worcestershire are already overweight or obese when they start school.

By the time they are in their last year of primary school, this figure has increased to 33.3 per cent – a 9.1 per cent rise.

The data has been revealed as part of the organisation’s new Change4Life campaign, calling on parents to limit the amount of sugar their children consume to cut the risk of heart disease, diabetes and tooth decay.

Public Health England’s national director of health and wellbeing Professor Kevin Fenton said the campaign was suggesting sugary cereal could be swapped for a plain alternative such as Weetabix, cutting out sugary drinks, giving children fruited teacakes instead of cake for an after-school snack and yogurt instead of ice cream for pudding.

“Reducing sugar intake is important for the health of our children both now and in the future,” he said.

“We are all eating too much sugar and the impact this has on our health is evident. This campaign is about taking small steps to address this.

“We know from past campaigns that making simple swaps works and makes a real difference.

“This year we wanted to be even more single minded in our approach, which is why we are focusing on sugar alone.

“The family challenge highlights that simple swaps could lead to big changes if sustained over time and we urge parents in the West Midlands region to try one or more simple swaps in January and beyond.”

Guidelines state no more than 10 per cent of a person’s daily energy or calorie intake should be made up of sugar, but at present children are consuming up to 50 per cent more than that. Research has shown most children aged between four and 10 get 17 per cent of sugar from soft drinks every day, another 17 per cent from biscuits, cakes, buns, pastries and pies, 14 per cent from sweets, 13 per cent from fruit juice and eight per cent from breakfast cereal.

Tooth decay was the most common reason for hospital admissions among children aged between five to nine between April 2012 and March 2013.

The campaign was developed following a survey of users of the online parenting website Netmums, 67 per cent of whom said they were worried about the amount of sugar their children consume, while 47 per cent said they felt their family had too much sugar in their diets.

Netmums founder Cathy Court said making sure their children were eating healthily could be tough for families juggling a number of other priorities.

“Although sugar consumption is a worry for parents, we understand that taking steps to reduce sugar can be really difficult,” she said.

“We hope that these simple Sugar Swaps from Change4Life will make it easier for parents to reduce their family’s sugar intake.”

For more information or to sign up for a pack with information on swapping sugar-rich food for healthier alternatives visit www.nhs.uk/change4life.