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Oakham dental professional launches campaign to cap sugar content




A former dental healthcare professional has launched a campaign to limit the amount of sugar added to food and drink and raise awareness of safe levels.

Tim Ives, from Oakham, wants the Government to impose limits on food and drink producers over the sugar content in their products.

He says that many food and drink items eaten in one sitting contain more added sugar than the daily recommended maximum level advised by the NHS.

Tim Ives
Tim Ives

For anyone aged 11 and over the daily limit is 30 grammes - roughly equivalent to seven sugar cubes - and 24 grammes for children aged seven to 10.

Alarmed by increasing levels of obesity and related ill health, Tim is asking people to sign and share his petition to the Department for Health and Social Care asking them to reduce sugar content.

“My petition is really simple,” said Tim.

Child having a dental examination. Photo: istock
Child having a dental examination. Photo: istock

“It’s to make sure that nobody can sell a product which is supposed to be consumed in one sitting - like a drink or a piece of cake - that has more than the recommended daily maximum.”

As well as tooth decay, Tim blames sugar intake for rising levels of obesity, particularly among children, and a range of diseases, including cancer and heart disease, with ultra-processed food a big factor.

“Most of what’s killing us these days is related to sugar and we’re consuming more and more,” he said.

“There’s a two per cent increase in sugar sales every year and it’s really scary.

“There are there other people out there who are trying to do something about it, but you’re fighting the world. Everybody thinks it’s a bit of a joke.”

According to the Health Survey for England, published by NHS Digital in 2019, adult obesity rates rose from 15 per cent in 1993 to 27 per cent in 2019.

More than a third of children in England aged 10-11 were found to be overweight or obese in a study by the National Child Measurement Programme in 2018/19.

Tim believes sugar content is the driver behind these figures.

“Eight per cent of the UK population are diabetics,” he said

“The obesity rates are sky-rocketing. In the 1950s there was no obesity. The word didn’t exist.”

He added: “It is as addictive as a drug, like cocaine. Your brain gets a buzz from it so you can imagine what happens when people try to quit. It’s a real struggle.”

After a career as a dental hygienist, including 22 years in the RAF, Tim left around five years ago to work full-time on post-graduate studies having co-founded an online ‘virtual’ university a decade ago.

He carried out research on an international group of dental professionals asking them to give up sugar for 28 days.

“The majority failed,” Tim said.

“The number one reason was because they were addicted to it and they didn’t realise.

“So when they tried to stop they got really bad side effects and a lot of them were quite poorly.

“But the ones that did manage to go through the cold turkey came out the other side as changed people.

“They lost loads of weight, all of their inflammatory problems went, their mental health got better. I knew sugar was bad, but I never realised it was that bad.”

Further research showed Tim that the most effective way to quit sugar was through joining a support group. An initial group of 50 in his ‘sugar-free tribe’ is now at 200, all from the dental industry.

“I am addicted to sugar,” Tim admitted.

“I’m not coming at this from a standpoint that I’m a big I am. I’ve struggled with sugar addiction for quite some time.

“It took me a while to actually recognise that fact. Now I can go for long periods where I won’t consume added sugar, but eventually I fall off the waggon.”

Tim’s petition, which can be viewed at www.change.org/p/mandate-sugar-limits-in-single-serving-food-and-drink-items, is supported by the British Dental Journal and the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy.

“We need to start a conversation about the addictiveness of sugar and we haven’t got to that point yet because it’s all treated like a bit of a joke.”



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