Nestlé pledges to cut sugar in their cereals by a further 10%

Nestlé have vowed to bring down the amount of sugar in their cereals by a further 10% by the end of next year, in a bid to 'make breakfast even better for everyone'.

In 2010, the company said that it had already cut average sugar levels in popular cereals by 15%, but now they've laid out plans to cut the content even further to offer consumers a selection of healthy cereals across their ranges.

'Offering consumers healthier and tastier cereals is one of our top priorities and we are determined to make breakfast even better for everyone,' Gharry Eccles, the regional vice president of Cereal Partners Worldwide, which makes Nestlé's cereal in the UK, said of the announcement.

Nestlé manufacture a range of breakfast products, including a number of sugary children's cereals including Golden Nuggets, Nesquik, Cookie Crisp and Curiously Cinnamon, as well as store cupboard staples like Cheerios and Shreddies, meaning that the change could have a big impact on sugar consumption in families across the UK.

Current sugar allowance guidance from the NHS indicates that adults should eat no more than 30g of free sugars (approximately seven sugar cubes) a day, and children should be consuming less than this.

However, a recent Birmingham University study found that on average, kids are consuming 75g of sugar a day, or 19 teaspoons - which is a staggering four times their recommended daily intake.

Nestlé estimates that hitting their new target, through a combination of reformulation and growing their share of lower sugar options, will cut around 225 million teaspoons of sugar from the UK population's diet.

Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, applauded the change, saying: 'While there is a long way to go to drive sugar consumption down to recommended levels, we believe this announcement will encourage other companies to make significant reductions and produce healthier products to meet the Government's 20 per cent target by 2020.'