Sweet life: Goldsmiths pledges to reduce sugar intake

Students, staff and visitors at Goldsmiths, University of London are being encouraged to choose healthier food and drink as part of a nationwide campaign to reduce sugar intake.

The College and Goldsmiths Students' Union have both signed up to chef Jamie Oliver’s Sugar Smart drive to help people cut back on sweet treats.

Goldsmiths and its catering provider, Chartwells, and the SU have committed to a number of pledges including:

• making free tap water available
• clearly labelling the low sugar menu options
• displaying how many teaspoons of sugar are contained in popular fizzy drinks
• providing more healthy food and drink options

The SU is the first in the country to join the campaign while the pledges build on work already undertaken by Goldsmiths and Chartwells to support healthy eating and drinking. 

This includes introducing water fountains across campus and also providing a salad bar in the main refectory.

A recent independent audit of catering at Goldsmiths found that the “excellent” salad bar was the best they had seen across 20 surveyed universities. They added that at 90p per 100g the offering also represented “very good value for money”.

Vanessa Gouws, Head of Commercial Services at Goldsmiths, said: “As a learning institution it’s vital that we support initiatives like Sugar Smart – it can help us understand how small changes can make a big impact on our lives.

"We’re delighted to be leading the campaign in Lewisham and will be encouraging all our students, staff and visitors to take part."

Lisa Ashley, Director of Catering at Chartwells for Goldsmiths, said: “We’re proud to be part of the Sugar Smart campaign, which builds on the work we’ve already done to promote healthier eating in our outlets on campus."

The pledges were unveiled at an event on campus to mark the latest phase of Lewisham Council’s Sugar Smart campaign.

Mayor Sir Steve Bullock called on residents to use “people power” and lobby businesses and organisations in the borough to provide more healthy options.

The Mayor was joined by Lewisham Council’s Director of Public Health, Dr Danny Ruta, who said: “Lewisham is still in the grip of an obesity epidemic that stubbornly refuses to subside.

“The latest statistics show that in reception year, over 22% of our children are overweight or obese. By year 6, this figure has increased to 39%.

“This obesity epidemic is a normal response of people to an abnormal environment. People haven’t become greedier or lazier: the food available to us has changed. And one of the biggest changes has been the amount of sugar that surrounds us.”

Lewisham was the first borough to sign up to the national campaign and has successfully recruited over 70 businesses who have pledged to reduce the sugar they provide in food and drink.