Wales’s sweet tooth

New figures show that Welsh families consume more sugar than any other part of the UK – a massive 151g per week – but spend the least on their weekly shop.  Commenting in the Western Mail on 15^th December, Director of the Bevan Foundation, Dr Victoria Winckler, said that Welsh families have less to spend on their weekly shop so the figures weren’t surprising.

“More and more families are switching to low-cost supermarkets as well as cutting out the luxuries, because people are feeling really squeezed by static wages and rising prices,” she said.

“It’s worrying that one of the ways people on the very lowest incomes are coping is cutting back on fruit and veg.  There’re lots of reasons why people are choosing to eat a sticky cake instead of a crunchy apple, but the effects on their long-term health can be very damaging.

“With little end to the pressure on the cost of living in sight, bad eating habits could go on for some time.”