Musings From Abroad

Study reveals thousands of UK children in grave danger

Uncontrolled consumption of sugar has put thousands of UK children at health risk, a recent survey reveals

Published

6 years ago

June 18, 2018

Uncontrolled consumption of sugar has put thousands of UK children at health risk, a recent survey reveals.

The study shows that children in UK have consumed more than a year’s worth of sugar in less than six months, public health figures showed.

While four-to-ten-year-olds should not have more than the equivalent of five to six sugar cubes per day, they are consuming 13 on average, according to data from the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey.

This means children will have around 4,760 cubes of sugar by the end of the year — more than double the maximum recommendation.

Too much sugar is blamed for high obesity rates in children and dental decay.

The British Department for Health agency is urging parents to try to cut back on sugary drinks, cakes and biscuits.

“We’re barely halfway through the year and already children have consumed far more sugar than is healthy — it’s no surprise this is contributing to an obesity crisis,” said Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE.

“Snacks and drinks are adding unnecessary sugar to children’s diets without us even noticing,” Tedstone said.
“Swapping to lower- or no-added-sugar alternatives is something all parents can work towards.”

In spite of the publicity around the sugar levy, which began in April, sugary drinks such as colas, lemonades and juices are still one of the biggest sources of sugar in children’s diets.

They account for 10 per cent of sugar consumed by children, as do buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies.

Biscuits are almost as big a problem, making up nine per cent of children’s intake, with spreads, jams and table sugar also contributing nine per cent.

Other big sources of sugar include breakfast cereals (eight per cent), chocolate confectionery (seven per cent), and yoghurts, fromage frais and other dairy desserts (six per cent).

Fruit juice and smoothies can count as one of the five fruits and vegetables everybody is encouraged to eat per day, but they contain a lot of natural sugar.

PHE said that one serving a day of no more than 150 ml is enough, which should be drunk with a meal not as a snack.

PHE suggests parents should swap their children’s sugary drinks for water, lower fat plain milks, sugar-free or no-added-sugar drinks.

It also offered ideas on its Change4Life website. It said that lower sugar snacks include fruit, plain rice cakes, toast, fruit teacakes, malted loaf or bagels with lower-fat spread.

The Obesity Health Alliance said PHE’s figures were alarming.

“These startling figures highlight the need for further robust action from government in their upcoming second edition of the Childhood Obesity Plan.

“A package of measures including restrictions on the advertising of junk food to children, action on price promotions on unhealthy products and clearer food labelling will help parents to make healthy choices and ensure their children have the healthiest possible start in life,” said its lead, Caroline Cerny.

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Musings From Abroad

UN rights chief pushes for reparations for slavery

Published

2 days ago

April 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

United Nations head of human rights on Friday called on countries to take real steps toward reparations for people of African descent. He appealed while adding his voice to calls for justice for the horrible crimes committed during slavery.

African and Caribbean countries are becoming more in favour of setting up a panel to deal with reparations for crimes that happened during the transatlantic slave trade. Reparations could include money payments and other forms of making amends.

“I join your demands for action now,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in an address at the closing of the four-day U.N. Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD).

“On reparations, we must finally enter a new era. Governments must step up to show true leadership with genuine commitments to move swiftly from words to action that will adequately address the wrongs of the past.”

Although Turk did not say how reparations should be handled, he however expressed support for the group but is not one of its 10 members.

The idea of making reparations has become more popular but remains controversial, and most countries that used to colonize others do not agree with it with some expressing remorse for being part of the transatlantic slave trade and planning a 200 million euro fund to make up for it.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office recently admitted that the country was responsible for transatlantic slavery, but there were no plans to pay reparations because “today’s challenges” should be the focus.

The PFPAD, which can’t make laws but can give advice to other U.N. groups, released its findings on Friday and reiterated as it did in 2023, that a court should be set up to deal with slavery. This time, it said that the General Assembly, which makes policy for the UN, should be used to ask for this.

It specifically asked the proposed court to look into what happened in Haiti “and provide reparations, restitution, and compensation appropriately.” This came after Haitian groups at the forum asked France to repay the billions of dollars that people who had been slaves were forced to pay in exchange for the island’s independence being recognized two hundred years ago.

Lately, there has been the return of some “stolen” artefacts by colonialists to some African countries like Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria.

Over 90% of the world’s 193 countries of the world were colonized by notable eleven – Belgium, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, The Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, and the United States of America.

Musings From Abroad

US bans four former Malawian officials over bribery

Published

6 days ago

April 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The United States State Department said on Wednesday that four former government officials from Malawi were not allowed to come to the US because they were involved in major crime.

“The United States stands with Malawians working towards a more just and prosperous nation by promoting accountability for corrupt officials, including advocating for transparency and integrity in government procurement processes,” department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The people named are Reyneck Matemba, who used to be solicitor general and secretary of justice, John Suzi-Banda, who used to be director of public procurement and disposal of assets, Mwabi Kaluba, who used to be an attorney for the Malawi Police Service, and George Kainja, who used to be inspector general of the Malawi Police Service.

The State Department said that the four “abused their public positions by accepting bribes and other articles of value” from a private businessperson in exchange for a grant to work on government policy.

In the past few years, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has been fighting crime hard. In January 2022, he got rid of the whole Cabinet because three ministers were being accused of corruption.

Later that same year, Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau caught and charged Saulos Klaus Chilima, the vice president of the country, with graft. According to the group, public officers in Malawi stole money from the government by trying to change how contracts were awarded through the country’s public procurement system.

A lot of people in Malawi live on less than $2 a day, making it one of the most fragile places in the world. The population density puts it in the top 10 in Africa, even though it is a small country.