Children should be given only water to drink with meals to help tackle the obesity crisis, experts argue.
A group of nutritional 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 intake.
Sugar producer AB Sugar said “demonising one ingredient” would not “solve the obesity epidemic”.
Dr Julian Cooper, head of food science at AB Sugar, said targeting sugar was not a “silver bullet” and peope 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, syrup and fruit juice. The figure is 10% if alcohol is excluded.
All age groups, particularly children, struggle to meet that target in the UK, BBC informs.
