diabetes uk has warned of the &39addictive qualities&39 of sugar and geraint davies&39s bill would make it easier for shoppers to know just how much a product containsthe may election looms on the westminster horizon but geraint davies is on a mission to build crossparty support to make it compulsory to state on packaging how many teaspoonfuls of sugar a product contains.the swansea west labour mp expects the question of how the nhs can be funded at a time of rising costs to be a key issue in the general election for all parties &ndash but he is confident that if was easier for shoppers to avoid highsugar food and drink then the taxpayer would save billions.arguing that around £10bn a year of health spending is linked to diabetes, he said &ldquomy approach isn&rsquot simply to bidup the price but reduce the costs.&rdquodai williams, diabetes uk&rsquos national director for wales, backed mr davies&rsquo push to make it clear just how many teaspoonfuls of sugar are in a food or drink. the labels found on products today, he said, were often &ldquovery difficult&rdquo to understand.he described sugar as &ldquoempty calories,&rdquo saying &ldquothey don&rsquot give you anything that&rsquos ever of any use to the body at all. you can get plenty of energy from elsewhere but the problem is sugar has got certain addictive qualities.&ldquoif you put sugar in your tea when you&rsquore a kid it&rsquos very difficult to wean yourself off it. these days we&rsquove got a huge issue with obesity that&rsquos fuelling diabetes, we know that &ndash we also know that people who have diabetes need to control the amount of sugar that&rsquos going into their body.&rdquomr davies has published a bill that would introduce the changes and has spoken to both westminster health secretary jeremy hunt and welsh government health minister mark drakeford about his proposals.he said &ldquothe issue now is to build momentum behind the provisions of the bill... what i&rsquom trying to do is build a consensus across the political parties.&ldquoin a sense it isn&rsquot a partypolitical issue. it&rsquos an issue about the public health of the nation and the sustainability of the health service.&ldquoall the parties will agree we need to take firm action to empower people to make the right choices.&rdquothe mp is adamant that if people knew how many teaspoonfuls of sugar were in a product it would have an impact on their diet.he said &ldquoif you had a choice between two pasta sauces &ndash one with six spoonfuls of extra sugar in it and one with two &ndash most people would at least try out the one with two. i think it&rsquos a matter of people&rsquos fundamental rights to be empowered to make their own choices and central government to deliver that right.&rdquomr davies said that the recommended daily sugar intake is just nine teaspoonfuls for men, which is equivalent to a can of cola, or six for women, which a light yoghurt could contain.he said &ldquoi&rsquom hoping that by shining a light on this opportunity to reduce diabetes costs at a time when the argument is about who can afford the health service and balance the books it will help bring about a strategic approach to diabetes and reductions in sugar consumption.&rdquothe mp hopes that once &ldquopeople know how what they are eating manufacturers will compete to reduce sugar content instead of increasing it.&rdquohis bill would also compel the government to publish targets for the total amount of sugar consumed in the uk.a welsh government spokesman said &ldquowe fully support giving people better information about the sugar content of foods and the impact of sugar on their diets so they can make informed choices. the minister for health and social services has twice written to the secretary of state for health urging him to take action in this area.&ldquohe has raised concerns about the impact sugar is having on children&rsquos health and asked what action wales and england can take together to reduce these risks. to date we have yet to receive a response.&rdquo 
