Sir: Britain is facing a crisis - this much we know. Original estimates that suggested 50% of the population would be obese by 2050 now seem optimistic. Meanwhile, thousands of children are still going to school too hungry to learn.

Parents who once believed they were doing the right thing by offering their child orange juice instead of a fizzy drink are now being told this decision could be tantamount to putting them in an early grave.

Of course, we face many stark realities, some of which are hard to grasp. While some campaigners urge us to rid our cupboards of sugar (‘WHO fuels sugar confusion with call for a 50% daily cut,’ The Grocer, 8 March, p5), many parents are facing a choice of whether to feed their child or give them a hot bath.

We must reach out to families in a way that will encourage meaningful changes, rather than drive a wedge between the ‘worried well’ and those who require real support. Scare tactics and outrageous headlines seen throughout this debate help no-one apart from those using it as a platform for their own agenda.

I am the last person to defend sugar, but actually it is just one of a plethora of issues that need serious consideration in our lifestyles. Others of vital importance are saturated fat, salt, vitamins, the volume of food and alcohol we consume, the amount of exercise we do or do not do, the cost and access to food, education and communal eating occasions.

If certain media really wanted to keep true to their simplistic analyses of recent weeks, logic would have caused them to add to their infantile list of ‘bad’ foods the most natural foodstuff, one virtually every person has consumed: our mother’s breast milk - which contains two teaspoons of ‘sugar’ per 100ml bottle.

Lowest common denominator headlines cause great damage and respectable media have let themselves down by simplifying this serious national issue to a single, too simple, witch hunt of one foodstuff.

Paul Lindley, founder and CEO of Ella’s Kitchen

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