Families across the local area are being invited to “Be Food Smart” when Public Health England’s (PHE) Change4Life roadshow comes to towns and cities across the South West region.
Recent reports show that childhood obesity in England has reached alarming rates. Currently, 21.9% of 4 to 5-year-olds are overweight or obese in the South West, increasing to 30.3% in 10 to 11-year-olds.
PHE’s new Change4Life campaign urges parents to ‘Be Food Smart’ and take more control of their children’s diets.
At the event, families will see live demonstrations of the new Be Food Smart app that highlights just how much sugar, saturated fat and salt can be found in everyday food and drink that their children consume.
They will also receive free Be Food Smart information packs, making it easier to make the healthier choice at home.
Justine Womack, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead for Public Health England South West said: “The latest child obesity figures for the South West indicate that our children are eating and drinking too much sugar, so the roadshows are one way of reaching people to demonstrate how the app can help them and provide dietary information they may not have known before.
“We’ve developed our Be Food Smart app because the amount of sugar and saturated fat hidden in processed food plays a significant role in causing childhood obesity. We want to make it easy for families to know how much sugar, fat and salt they’re actually eating.”
The free app helps and encourages families to choose healthier options and works by scanning the barcode of products allowing parents to compare brands, and features food detective activities for children and mini missions the whole family can enjoy.
The campaign also helps parents identify the health harms of children eating and drinking too much sugar, saturated fat and salt, including becoming overweight or obese and developing tooth decay.
The tour will be arriving in Bristol, at the Clifton Down Shopping Centre, on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd February.
The new Change4Life ‘Be Food Smart’ campaign is touring the country, visiting 29 shopping centres and 40 supermarkets nationally.