Coffee and a cake at high street coffee shops can contain five times an adult’s sugar limit

More than one in two young adults is overweight and living with obesity and one in three 25 to 34-year-olds are suffering from untreated tooth decay in the UK. Action on Sugar is calling for greater transparency over a 'scandalous' lack of nutrition information available at the point of purchase and new levies to be introduced to encourage healthier food and drink across the board.

Whilst certain companies are required, by law, to display the calorie content of food and drink at the point of purchase, details about the sugar content are often limited. The research reveals that 782 sweet food and drink products surveyed in nine leading high street coffee shops are insufficiently labelled for consumers. Over half would be marked 'red' (high in total sugars) if nutrition information was fully transparent. Astonishingly, just one food item (a Greggs All Butter Croissant) was low in sugar.