Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, has revealed plans to stopping selling drinks with added sugar from their stores in the hope that it will cut down on childhood obesity.

This means there are some iconic brands such as Capri Sun, Ribena and Rubicon that will be missing from shelves. Tesco’s plans are to replace sugary drinks aimed at children with branded and Tesco’s own brand no-added-sugar alternatives from the beginning of September.  This coincides with children returning to school after the summer holidays.

A recent report advised parents to cut sugary drinks for their children’s diets, as they are a major contributor to obesity and the move is Tesco’s latest response to growing pressure from campaigners pressuring supermarkets to tackle the issue of obesity.

This move should be seen as an admirable move in terms of health and other Supermarkets are likely to follow suit.  There was some ridicule on social media after the news was announced last week, with some questioning where the supermarket planned to draw the line on banning products deemed to be unhealthy, including maybe those of its own brand. 

That said health campaigners, including Action on Sugar and the Children’s Food Campaign, have praised the move, calling it “a positive step”, “hugely symbolic” and “exactly the right policy.”