A THIRD of children in Worcestershire are obese when they leave primary school according to figures released by Public Health England (PHE).

Parents are now being asked to reduce their children’s sugar intake to prevent diseases, such as diabetes, which are associated with obesity.

The latest statistics revealed that throughout the county, 24.2 per cent of children start school either overweight or obese, with 33.3 per cent being measured as obese in their final year of primary education.

To tackle these figures, PHE's Change4Life is launching the Sugar Swaps campaign.

Professor Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing at PHE, said: “We are all eating too much sugar and the impact this has on our health is evident.

“This campaign is about taking small steps to address this. We know from past campaigns that making simple swaps works and makes a real difference.

“This year we wanted to be even more single minded in our approach, which is why we are focusing on sugar alone.”

Change4Life is recommending four Sugar Swaps to choose from, tackling different ‘sugar occasions’ in the day.

These include The Breakfast Swap, which changes sugary cereal for plain cereal, The Drink Swap exchanges sugary drinks for sugar-free or no-added-sugar drinks, The After School Swap switches chocolate cake for fruited teacake, and The Pudding Swap trades ice cream for low-fat lower-sugar yoghurt.

For more information visit sugarswaps.change4life.co.uk