Daily Mail - Tough talk: NHS boss Simon Stevens said there is 'absolutely no reason' that youngsters should be given fizzy drinks

By BEN SPENCER MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Children shouldn't have fizzy drinks at all, says NHS chief, as scientists warn people to even limit consumption of unsweetened fruit juice
Simon Stevens said there is 'absolutely no reason' to give kids fizzy drinks
Scientists warn people should even limit unsweetened fruit juice
New guidelines recommend a maximum of one 150ml glass of juice a day
Mr Stevens called on supermarkets to raise price of junk food and drinks

Children should avoid all sugary drinks or risk cancer and heart disease later in life, the head of the NHS warned yesterday.
Simon Stevens said there was ‘absolutely no reason’ that youngsters should be given fizzy drinks.
He spoke out as scientists advised that people should even severely limit their consumption of unsweetened fruit juice because of the natural sugar it contains.
New guidelines recommend a maximum of one 150ml glass of juice a day, drunk with a meal to cut the risk of tooth decay.
Mr Stevens, chief executive of NHS England,
called on supermarkets to raise the price of junk food and unhealthy drinks – and threatened a ‘regulatory backstop’ if they do not do so voluntarily.
It is the closest he has come to endorsing a ‘sugar tax’ in the war against obesity, a measure that the Government refuses to consider. His intervention came as government advisers published a report recommending that Britons halve their daily intake of sugar.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) found that children get more than a third of their sugar from soft drinks and fruit juice.
It advised that adults should consume no more than 30g of ‘free sugars’ a day – half the existing guidance, which few people observe.
Free sugars are those added to food or naturally present in a modified form, as in unsweetened fruit juice and honey. Such sugars are quickly absorbed by the body, while the sugar in fruit and vegetables is released more gradually because the body has to break the plant cells down.
Mr Stevens said: ‘There is a steady drumbeat of evidence showing that sugar and obesity are not only causing cancer but a whole range of other health problems.