Jamie Oliver joined forces with food charity Sustain to help launch the SUGAR SMART campaign in Croydon last month.
Croydon is the latest London borough to join the national campaign which aims to help residents, local authorities, organisations and workplaces across Britain become more aware of the adverse health risks of consuming too much sugar.
The initiative was inspired by Jamie Oliver’s 2015 Sugar Rush documentary which looked into the mass sugar consumption by young people.
The TV chef said: “It’s brilliant that Croydon has joined us and are launching their own SUGAR SMART campaign.
“They’ll be joining us in raising awareness about the long-term damage too much sugar can have on our health, and empowering us all to reduce it in our diets.”
Croydon has joined eight other London boroughs including Hackney and Lewisham in starting their own campaigns with another 12 boroughs looking to launch.
SUGAR SMART hopes to combat the health epidemic in Britain which sees a fifth of children start primary school overweight or obese and one third progress to secondary school in the same state.
The campaign is built on individuals, restaurants and businesses making different pledges that suit their own needs while ultimately reducing their sugar intake.
Already three primary schools in Croydon have made pledges to the campaign along with over forty individuals and a business.
“We’ve had a really successful launch.” Said Georgia Ladbury, Public Health Principal for Croydon Council
“Health problems are national problems but they are going to have local solutions.
“The campaign isn’t just looking to raise awareness in individuals of sugar levels in their diet and its impact on health, it also tries to modulate the food environment that is available to people so that they feel more empowered and enabled to access healthy food.”
Sustain also hope that the campaign will help build and strengthen relations between boroughs and build a network in tackling obesity.
That is why the Sugar Smart tray is passed by a representative of one borough to another that has recently launched the campaign.
“This was inspired by the passing of the Olympic torch,” a Sustain spokesperson said.
“It’s the links between those local boroughs and the way they support each other and find those areas where they can work together that gives more power to this campaign.”
