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An NHS app will allow parents to scan barcodes on their children's snacks and suggest healthier options.
The NHS Food Scanner app, which previously just showed the nutritional content of products, has been updated allowing users to swap snacks for ones that are lower in sugar, salt and saturated fat.
Tested with one family in London, the application recommended a thin and crispy pizza instead of a deep-dish, stuffed-crust one, sugar-free lemonade to replace the normal version and a lighter pasta sauce replacement.
Instead of a chocolate cake bar, a fruity loaf came up as an alternative, with a lower-sugar yoghurt recommended instead of one with balls of chocolate included.
The five replacement products were found to reduce the sugar intake of seven-year-old Gloria Denovagiene and brother Arlo, four, by the equivalent of 40 sugar cubes a week. Their salt intake was cut by the equivalent of 15 sachets and the saturated fat in their diet by 80 grams.
The NHS Food Scanner app, which previously just showed the nutritional content of products, has been updated allowing users to swap snacks for ones that are lower in sugar, salt and saturated fat (stock image)
The NHS hopes the app, which is part of
