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

This week Aimee Mortimore reflects on food labelling and sugar content. 

Sugar is everywhere - we cannot escape it. 

Sixty eight per cent of processed foods contain added sugar and are hidden in some of the most unexpected of foods, such as baked beans, milk, salad dressings and sauces. 

The United Kingdom consumes more than two million tonnes of sugar each year but few individuals are truly aware of their sugar consumption. 

For this, we cannot blame the consumer as the sweet ingredient is masterfully disguised. 

Food companies deceive their customers and products no longer state explicitly their contained ingredients. Instead they use hundreds of substitute names ,for example, sorbitol, sorghum, sucanat, isomalt, inversol, mannitol, fructose, maltose, and the list continues.

These days, nutrition labels barely satisfy the Advertising Standards Authority. 

Despite being bad for our health, food companies are terribly eager to include sugar. But why is sugar kept such a secret? This is because sugar is effectively a drug. It is an addictive ingredient which keeps the customers returning for more.

But at the same time, food companies want to appear involved in current health trends. It seems scheming to try and please two targets at once.

Solving this sugar problem must start with the food manufacturers lowering the quantity of sugar in their products. People need to be educated so they stop buying highly sugared foods.

Once this is effectuated, the manufactures will change to meet the demands of the now nutritionally conscious consumer and the world will become a healthier place. 

Aimee Mortimore