Fizz free Feb
North Street Dental supports the Fizz Free Feb campaign. Launched by Southwark Council in 2018, the campaign encourages the public to reduce their sugar intake by cutting out fizzy drinks. You can learn more about this year’s campaign by visiting the Sugar Smart UK website.
Fizzy drinks are the largest single source of sugar for children aged eleven to eighteen. So if we’re going to get serious about childhood obesity, it starts with fizzy pop.
- You could save £438 a year if you stopped drinking one bottle of soft drink, per day for a year — source: GULP.
- Drinking just one 330ml can of fizzy drink a day adds up to over a stone weight gain per year— source: GULP.
- 79% of fizzy drinks contain 6 or more teaspoons of sugar per can (330ml). Source: Action on Sugar.
Tooth decay is the leading cause for hospitalisation among five to nine-year-olds in the UK, with 26,000 children being hospitalised each year due to tooth decay – in other words, 500 each week. Source: Action on Sugar.
We have put together a few tips to help you on the way to a fizz free February.
1. Brighten up your water
Make water an exciting alternative by adding a pop of colour. Add fruits like frozen berries, kiwi and apple to make the water taste and look more appealing.
2. Make healthy swaps
Swap sugary drinks like fizzy drinks, energy drinks and juice for lower-fat milk, water, sugar-free or no-added-sugar drinks.
3. Try a water app
Download a water tracker app and mark off the glasses of water you drink per day!
4. Use a fun, reusable bottle
Buy a reusable bottle and do your little bit for the planet by using less single-use plastics. There are some excellent reusable bottles available nowadays – the more fun the bottle, the more likely you are to use it!
5. Ditch the energy drinks
Energy drinks aren’t suitable for those under 16 as they can contain a lot of sugar and caffeine. Having energy drinks may be linked to difficulty sleeping, headaches and anxiety.
