Freakshakes and other excessively-sweet milkshakes should be banned, says Salford University nutritionist Dr Anna Robins.
The tempting mountain-high milkshakes that often make their way onto Instagram pages have been found to contain “grotesque levels of sugar and calories,” she says.
With different chocolates, cakes, sweets, whipped cream and sauces decorating the ice cream filled milkshakes, fast food shops and restaurants have had no problem adding them to their menus. Some outlets do reveal the calorie value but she says that is not enough.
Nutritionist Dr Robins discloses: “Simply labelling the shake as red on the traffic light system is not satisfactory, as consuming one of these shakes as a snack could mean that a child is in considerable daily calorie excess and the consequences of this are grave. “
Earlier this year, Public Health England unveiled steps to cut people’s excessive calorie intake as part of the government’s strategy to reduce childhood and adult obesity.
“This new campaign was based on evidence highlighting that overweight or obese boys and girls consume up to 500 and 290 calories too many each day respectively.”
Freakshakes take up over half of an adults daily intake of calories and have six times the recommended daily allowance for a child aged 7-10.
The British Heart Foundation confirms that an average 25-year-old would need to jog for nearly three hours or vacuum the house for five hours to burn off all the calories consumed from a Freakshake.
Due to the number of restaurants and fast food chains showcasing Freakshakes, Action on Sugar which is made up of specialists concerned with sugar and its effects, is calling for mandatory traffic light coloured nutrition labelling across all menus. The government is currently consulting the idea of menu calorie labelling.
YouTube is full of ‘Freakshake Recipe’ videos, from popular YouTubers such as Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlogVlogs) posting a ‘DIY CRAZY FREAKSHAKES’ video which gain ed 1.2million views.
Well, thanks to Mr. Alfie Deyes I’m CRAVING some freakshakes now. Cheers pic.twitter.com/lgUUrJueeX
— ela ? (@marvelfairytale) 10 December 2016
Popular restaurants like Frankie and Benny’s, TGI Friday’s and Toby Carvery all have Freakshakes on their desert and drink menus. Toby Carvery’s Unicorn Freakshake was ranked highest in a survey with 39 teaspoons of sugar, equating to 1,280 calories.
According to the NHS, for a man to maintain a healthy, balanced diet he needs around 2,500 calories a day whilst a woman needs 2,000 a day.
Action on Sugar chairman Graham MacGregor, professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at London’s Queen Mary University, said: “These very high calorie drinks, if consumed on a daily basis, would result in children becoming obese and suffering from tooth decay – that is not acceptable. “These high calorie milkshakes need to be reduced immediately below 300kcal per serving.” After the revelation of Toby Carvery having a 1,280 calorie Freakshake, the company told the BBC it ‘shared nutritional information online, took their nutritional responsibilities seriously, had committed to PHE’s sugar reduction programme and also were not targeting children with their shakes’. A Toby Carvery spokesperson states: “We also regularly work with our suppliers to explore ways we can reduce sugar levels in our dishes.” Anyone concerned about maintaining a healthy diet or worried about sugar intake, look for activities in your Salford area for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
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