Supermarket giant Tesco has announced that it is reducing the amount of added sugar in its own-label fizzy drinks by 5% per year.

Action, a campaign group who are supporting Tesco said that the best way to reduce intake is to gradually cut down the amount of calories and sugar you have.

Figures have shown that calories in fizzy drinks have decreased by 7.3% and sugar has decreased by 8.3%, and they also show that over the next four years around 477 billion calories will be removed from the total UK diet.

Chairman of Action on Sugar, and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University London, Prof Graham MaGregor said: “The supermarket chain's decision to commit to an incremental reduction in added sugars is really important. Merely having the option of diet or no-sugar products does not work, particularly for the most socially deprived.

"This is the way to do it. Now the pressure will be on other supermarkets and other brands to follow suit."

Also commenting, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, Dr Alison Tedstone said: "Reformulation" of food and drink products is a highly effective way of helping people to reduce sugar in their diet.

"We urge other drinks brands and supermarkets to follow in Tesco's footsteps.

"As a nation we are eating too much sugar which leads to weight gain and obesity, increasing our risk of life-threatening illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease."

Other supermarkets have also reduced sugar content such as Sainsbury’s cutting down their own-brand squash between 4%-10% and the Co-op has taken out 1.5 billion calories from its own-brand squash. ASDA will follow shortly by decreasing added sugar by 22% to its own-brand soft drinks.