Parents should ban juice from the dinner table, experts warned yesterday.
Children should be given only water or milk and should not expect sweet drinks all the time, according to Nutritionists.
They point out that fruit juices are helping fuel sharp rises in obesity rates, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
A typical teenager consumes 40 per cent more sugar than they should. Adults take in 13 per cent too much.
The advisers say that, while most parents understand fizzy drinks are harmful, many wrongly believe that fruit juice is healthy.
Professor Tom Sanders, head of diabetes and nutritional sciences at King’s College London, said smoothies should be given only as a treat.
‘It’s not a good idea to wean people on the habit of expecting sweet beverages all the time,’ he said. ‘Teens should be getting their fluid from drinking water.
‘We need to reintroduce the habit of people putting a jug of water on the table and drinking water with their food instead of some sort of fruity beverage. Don’t put pop on the table.’
In a study published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, researchers warned that orange juice is potentially as bad as sugary, sweetened drinks.
A 250ml serving contains 115 calories – or seven teaspoons of sugar.
A can of regular Coke has 139 calories.
