A group of nutritional² scientists said sugary drinks were empty calories and people had got "out of the habit of drinking water" with meals.

 

The call comes as Public Health England prepares to publish its plans for cutting the nation's sugar intake³.

 

Sugar producer AB Sugar said "demonising one ingredient" would not "solve the obesity epidemic⁴".

 

Dr Julian Cooper, head of food science at AB Sugar, said targeting sugar was not a "silver bullet" and people should balance their calorie intake against how much they exercise.

 

Advice currently states that no more than 11% of daily calories should come from sugars added by the manufacturer or chef as well as that from honey, syrup⁵（糖浆，果汁） and fruit juice. The figure is 10% if alcohol is excluded.

 

All age groups, particularly children, struggle to meet that target in the UK.

 

Scientists speaking before Public Health England's announcement argued there were no easy solutions to tackling obesity.

 

However, they rounded on sugary drinks. 

 

"Chose something else," said Prof Susan Jebb, of the University of Oxford⁶.

 

"It comes back to simple advice to parents - encourage your children to drink water. 

 

"Once they've been weaned, 'children should be drinking water' is absolutely the message. Milk is fine, but that should be the mainstay of our advice." 

 

Prof Tom Sanders, the head of diabetes⁷ and nutritional sciences division at King's College London, said: "Kids should get into the habit of drinking water.

 

"The problem is people don't drink water anymore. I think families should put water on the table, not pop, [which] should be a treat."

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