IT'S educational, fun and - ultimately - it's learning for life.

These three essential ingredients are cleverly incorporated into the 'sugar smart app' which is helping families see the amount of sugar in the products they consume.

Launched as part of Public Health England's Change4Life campaign, the free app works by scanning the barcodes of products revealing the amount of total sugar content in cubes and grams.

Considering four to 10-year-olds consume more than 5,500 sugar cubes a year - around 22kg - the average weight of a five-year-old, the campaign aims to encourage healthier behaviours including 'sugar swaps' - swapping food and drink with added sugar for options that are lower in sugar or sugar-free; ensuring children eat at least five portions of variety of fruit and veg daily; having regular meals to avoid adopting unhealthy eating habits; being conscious of portion sizes in 'me size meals' and limiting snacks.

Using the sugar smart app, our young daughter has been busily zapping the barcodes of products commonly found in kitchens throughout the UK and, for some products, the sugar content can be a revelation.

For example, scanning a 75cl bottle of flavoured water revealed a content equivalent to nine sugar cubes. More surprisingly was a healthy 500g bag of breakfast granola which contained a 30.8 sugar cube content.

The Sugar Smart app covers over 75,000 everyday food and drink products with more products added regularly.

Food expert, Verner Wheelock, founder of a food safety training business in Skipton, says diabetes is increasing and believes sugar is a major which needs tackling.

"It annoys me every time I go into the supermarket you see these huge bottles of pop and even with these apps I don't know if people realise just how much sugar are in these things."

Verner explains a small can of pop, around a third of a litre, can contain anything from nine to 15 teaspoons of sugar.

Tooth decay is another lasting legacy of eating too much sugar. One in three five-year-olds have tooth decay which can lead to having teeth removed.

Through her role as manager of Jamie's Ministry of Food in Bradford, Soraya Overend spends her days demonstrating how to create healthy meals.

Working with individuals as well as groups and organisations such as schools, Soraya and her team and passing on valuable life skills to future generations.

Soraya believes the sugar smart app is ideal for engaging and involving youngsters through the technology which is now an integral part of our daily lives.

"I think it is brilliant to get them looking at apps like this because on their phone or PC it's all going that way for them and it is a brilliant way to engage with them. Also it is raising awareness of where the sugar is and how to find it because a lot of labels the children go to read can be confusing, but this app is brilliant because they can check how many sugar cubes are in things and they can compare with the amount they are eating and drinking."

But Soraya also believes healthy eating has to be a partnership between parents and their children. On Thursday evenings starting from January 14 Jamie's Ministry of Food Bradford is running kids cooking classes. Soraya explains youngsters will learn how to cook their tea, not only expanding their culinary knowledge but it also encourages them to make healthy choices. She says parents, who are watching the process, can also learn something too.

"It is working in partnership and making it fun," adds Soraya.

Shahidur Rahman, health improvement lead in Bradford Council's public health department, has first-hand experience of the app. "It is very useful to visibly see and it makes you think.

"Anything that promotes and makes people aware is what you want. Obviously we could say it needs to go a lot further but it is definitely a start."

Corinne Harvey from PHE in Yorkshire and The Humber says: “Our latest child obesity figures highlight the importance for families to cut back on sugar in the diet. Sugar is lurking in everyday food and drink, taking children well over the maximum recommended amount.

“Children aged five shouldn’t have more than 19 grams of sugar per day – that’s five cubes, but it’s very easy to have more. That’s why we want parents to be “Sugar Smart”. Our easy to use app will help parents see exactly where the sugar in their children’s diet is coming from, so they can make informed choices about what to cut down on."

To find out more about cooking classes contact Jamie's Ministry of Food, Bradford, 01274 435279.