Why is the Sugar Smart App so Good?

Comments

Credit: nhs.uk/change4life-beta/campaigns/sugar-smart/

Every day, without realising, we’re ALL having too much added sugar

You’d be surprised at the amount of added sugar lurking in everyday food and drink – and it builds up quickly over the day.

Parents are now being advised to enroll in a totally free application which informs them on the sugar content of drink and food.

The “sugar smart app”, from Public Health England (PHE), functions by checking bar code scans and revealing total sugar content of the food in either cubes or grams.

Authorities hope it can help combat tooth cavities, weight problems and type 2 diabetes and encourage families to select more healthy options with their daily diet.

Tooth Cavities & Dental Disease

Approximately 46,500 children and young people under 19 were admitted to hospital for a primary diagnosis of dental caries in 2013–14 according to The state of children’s oral health in England report by the Faculty of Dental Surgery – that’s more children than were admitted for tonsillitis.

As a nation, if we are going to reduce these hospital admissions for young people and we need to get dental disease under control.

hospitaladmissions

 

Dental caries is caused when the bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar, as they do this they excrete acid which attacks The outer surface of your tooth. This attack continues until the dental care is reaches deep inside your tooth. If the attack isn’t halted by a change in oral healthcare routine, diet and dental treatments then ultimately the tooth will become extremely painful, sensitive and could be lost!

This seems to be what is happening to these young people which causes these hospital admissions. Becoming more educated about cleaning one’s teeth and diet is the route to reducing this hospitalisation.

Type 2 Diabetes

Chris Askew, Diabetes UK Chief Executive, said:

“Diets that are high in sugar are fuelling the rise in obesity, and in turn the dramatic rise in Type 2 diabetes, a serious health condition that can lead to devastating complications such as blindness, amputations and stroke. This is unlike Type 1 diabetes which cannot be prevented and is not caused by being obese. With the average child consuming three times the recommended daily amount of sugar, the need for action has never been more urgent. The new Sugar Smart app will help parents to understand and take control of their children’s sugar intake.

PHE states that young people are eating 3X more sugar than is recommended in their new Change4Life marketing campaign. Their research indicates that normally children aged 4 to 10 years of age are consuming 22kg of added sugar annually. That equates to about 5,500 sugar cubes which is more that the average 5-year old weighs!

It’s all as simple as 3 easy steps:

  1. Get The App

  2. Start Scanning

  3. Reveal The Sugar

Here’s how to use the sugar smart app

The app's instructions Credit: Public Health England

The Sugar Smart app instructions Credit: Public Health England

  • Download the application through the Apple Store or Google Play.
  • Based on how old you are, your everyday sugar allowance will differ. The application informs you on the maximum you should eat.
  • Select the product that has a barcode.
  • Open the application.
  • Permit the application the use of the digital camera on your phone- a box will appear requesting permission.
Credit: Public Health England

Credit: Public Health England

  • Line the barcode track up with the red-colored line and wait for a beep. If it’s doesn’t work, yo may be trying to scan too close up, so move the camera further away.
  • The application will let you know just how much sugar there is in the product – however the application does not have every food item available yet as it is still in it’s development stage.
  • After that you can share the end result together with your connections on Facebook, Twitter & other social media sites.
  • Clicking the menu button gives you more about sugar content in meals, a scanning history and let’s you go to the app’s website.

If you have children we can highly recommend that they download the app and begins scanning food, this can be a fun way to educate your case about the amount of sugar in food.

Do let us know what you think.

=============

Solihull Dental Centre is a Private dental practice offering free dental health advice via their website, social media streams and regularly updated blog posts.

Zubair Sacranie

Zubair Sacranie

Dr. Zubair Sacranie is a highly qualified and experienced clinician in the fields of cosmetic dentistry and dental implantology. He qualified from the Dundee Dental School in 2000 thereafter completing his two year General Professional Training Scheme. During this time Dr.Sacranie had training in implant and complex restorative dentistry as well as in orthodontics and peadiatric dentistry. Dr Sacranie worked in a private dental practice in Coventry for four years before becoming the Principal and owner of the Solihull Dental Centre & Implant Clinic. He is also the practice principle at Water Orton Dental Centre.
Zubair Sacranie

Latest posts by Zubair Sacranie (see all)