I saw this in the news and it has wound me up. I think it is actually counter productive to the bigger picture. People are responsible for what goes into their mouth, there are many foods that do not have sugar that will cause obesity in excess. Kellogg's to cut sugar in kids' cereals At a simple level, the calories consumed Vs calories used is the bigger picture and education on this should be paramount over shifting responsibility to someone else. Obesity is clearly becoming more of an issue, I was obese from some time and that was down to choices I made not to exercise and to eat large amounts of bacon sausage bread and drink plenty of beer. I knew what it would do making those choices and I adjusted my choices. I have seen a few more PT recently who recommend having a treat regularly so that you control what you eat without a yoyo of starvation Vs binge which seems to happen commonly when people are forced to abstain from foods they enjoy.
As with most things I think education and choice are the key. Not to say manufacturers, corporations, institutions don't have a responsibility to the public at any time; but in this instance I completely agree.
Whilst I broadly agree, devising sugar packed foods and then advertising them to kids is also the behaviour of an amoral psychopath, so I can also see why having the manufacturer choose to make them less packed full of sugar is a good idea. There's a major obesity and diabetes epidemic in the country, and plenty of people are loosing limbs and their lives to it, so whilst I'm all for personal choice in adults, kids shouldn't be targeted by evil corparation either. Ps, let me guess, your a fan of coca_pops? I actually like the old French ones, as they had less sugar in, I'll have to try the new lower sugar ones. Pps His hasn't come from a ban, but from the company itself after guidelines have been published, so nothing has been "banned".
I'm actually looking forward to having coco pops again now! Also cheat days are definitely a good thing.... Unfortunately mine now go from Monday to Sunday!
Their marketing director was on TV this morning saying the change was driven by consumer demands and that to reflect this new products would be launched. Sadly the consumer doesn't understand food labelling and that's a whole other area of debate.
I definitely agree with the points about how the marketing is towards kids. I believe there is a physiological development of taste which younger favour sweet food more, which hits from both angles with the problem. Myself I prefer oats with milk in the morning with berries and/or bananas, but I recall I definitely had a preference to sweeter cereals when I was younger. The purchaser is usually the parent and that choice is driven by the children desire which I imagine it's very much swayed by the advertising. I recall certain soft drinks have been under target before for this, which definitely should be consumed with moderation if at all. I can't help but feel that these changes may take focus away from education towards nutritional labelling. I have to admit I occasionally have a week long "cheat" usually when I'm not well like this week, like falling out of the routine- when I had a normal training week I find it easy to stick to a balanced diet.