Plymouth’s Labour MP, Luke Pollard, is bringing Fizz Free February to Plymouth for the first time. Luke is challenging people in Plymouth to make the pledge to #GoFizzFree for a month.

Tomorrow, Friday 1 February marks the start of Fizz Free February meaning it’s time to ditch sugary drinks for 28 days.  Launched by Southwark Council in London in 2018, Fizz Free February is a great way to reduce your sugar intake by cutting out fizzy drinks. By going fizz free for all of February, it can help you on your way to drinking less sugary drinks for the rest of the year too.

Through this campaign, Luke Pollard MP aims to raise awareness of the health implications of drinking fizzy drinks which often contain high amounts of sugar.

Latest data Public Health England on the nation’s diet shows that sugar now makes up 13.5% of 4 to 10 year-olds and 14.1% of teenagers daily calorie intake respectively, while the official recommendation is to limit sugar to no more than 5% .

In Plymouth, 15.3% of children aged 5 had one of more decayed, missing or filled teeth and 10.4% of children aged 4-5 years and 15.7% of children aged 10-11 years are classified as obese

To join in, just pledge to give up fizzy drinks for 28-days and tweet us using #gofizzfree. You can also take part by downloading a chart and a poster from Luke’s website at https://www.lukepollard.org/fizz-free-february/.

The hard truth about soft drinks:

• You can save £438 a year if you stopped drinking one bottle of soft drink, per day for a year
• Drinking just one 330ml can of fizzy drink a day could add up to over a stone weight gain per year
• Tooth decay is the leading cause for hospitalisation among 5-9 year olds in the UK, with 26,000 children being hospitalised each year due to tooth decay – in other words, 500 each week

Luke Pollard MP said:

“Tooth decay and obesity are big problems in Plymouth and they cost our city millions each year in health implications. I’m going fizz free for February and I am challenging young people in Plymouth to go fizz free too.”

 

“Cutting out sugary fizzy drinks can help fight tooth decay and obesity and save money too. I’m going to be passing on my favourite sugary drink, Fanta, and I hope you will consider reducing or passing on fizzy drinks for the whole month too.”

Cllr Ian Tuffin, Plymouth City Council Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care said:

“I am so pleased that Fizz Free February is coming to Plymouth, a great initiative started by Southwark Council. It is a fantastic way to cut down on sugar and make positive changes. Good luck to everyone going fizz free this February!”