When it comes to sugar, British children eat and drink the equivalent of the weight of a five-year-old every year, Public Health England (PHE) announced Monday with the launch of a new campaign encouraging parents to take control of their children's sugar intake.

The government health agency's Change4Life campaign follows revelations that 4-to-10-year-olds consume over 5,500 sugar cubes a year, or around 22kg, the average weight of a 5-year-old.

A new Sugar Smart app has been launched to help parents see how much sugar there is in food and drinks. The free app works by scanning a product barcode, revealing the amount of total sugar it contains in cubes and grams.

Alongside this, Change4Life includes an eye-opening short film warning parents about the health hazards of eating and drinking too much sugar, including becoming overweight and tooth decay.

PHE said in 2013, almost a third of 5-year-olds and almost half of 8-year-olds had tooth decay, a condition which was also the most common reason 5-to-9-year-olds were admitted to hospital.

The film highlights that per year, the average child currently consumes three times the new maximum recommended daily amount of sugar.

A spokesman for the agency said: "A fifth of 4-to-5-year-olds and a third of 10-to-11-year-olds are overweight or obese. Overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults, making them more prone to a range of serious health problems, such as heart disease, some cancers, and Type 2 diabetes. There are now 2.5 million people suffering from Type 2 diabetes, 90 percent of whom are overweight or obese."

Dr. Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist for PHE, said: "Children aged 5 shouldn't have more than 19 grams of sugar per day. That's 5 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."

Obesity costs Britain's National Health Service (NHS) 7.5 billion US dollars a year and is projected to rise to 14.3 billion US dollars by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach 87 billion US dollars per year.