Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people.

This week Aimee Mortimore discusses hidden sugars in food.

Sugar is everywhere. We cannot escape it. 68 per cent of processed foods contain added sugar and it is hidden in some of the most unexpected of foods, such as baked beans, salad dressings and sauces.

The UK consumes more than two million tonnes of sugar each year and few people are truly aware of their sugar consumption. But for this, we cannot blame them.

The sweet ingredient is masterfully disguised. Products no longer state explicitly their ingredients instead using hundreds of substitute names such as sorbitol, sorghum, sucanat, isomalt, inversol and the list continues. These days, nutrition labels barely satisfy the Advertising Standards Authority but why is sugar kept such a secret?

Health, one the leading industries, is the reason why sugar is masked in many products but food companies are terribly eager to include it. This is because sugar is effectively a drug and keeps the customers returning for more.

People need to be educated so that they stop buying highly sugared foods. Once this is effectuated, manufactures will be forced to change to meet the demands of the now nutritionally conscious consumer and the world will become a healthier place.

By Aimee Mortimore