By Emma Biginelli Macchia

Councils across the whole country and charities like Sugar Smart UK are taking part in Fizz Free February this month.

People are pledging to cut out all fizzy and sugary drinks, to develop new and healthier habits. Cutting out fizzy drinks is the easiest way to reduce the sugar we consume, as they are the largest single source of sugar for children aged 11-18, and they provide an average of 29% of daily sugar intake. 79% of fizzy drinks contain six or more teaspoons of sugar.

The initiative was started by Southwark Council in 2018 and this year many high profile figures are backing it, such as TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and politician Tom Watson.

Labour councillor Tris Osborne is also a secondary school teacher and has been campaigning for years for a better food education. He welcomes the challenge and says that the council has to change its mindset, after the Tory administration has slashed public health budgets. He said: “We have an obesity epidemic in Medway. If you look at under-11s, we have, in some areas of Medway, almost 1 in 3 children obese. Going into adulthood, 1 in 4 are clinically obese now.”

Eniola Majoyegbe is a nutritionist in Rochester. He says that while natural sugar can be okay, cause its comes with vitamins and fibres, it’s important to avoid processed sugar as much as possible, because it causes the glucose blood levels to spike and can lead to Diabetes 2. Sugary drinks should be replaced with fruit, to stop the cravings.