Brits are set to munch their way through nearly six million bags of sugar during Christmas lunch according to our latest research.

Excluding extra treats like mince pies and children’s selection boxes, we’ve estimated the average adult will consume 94g of sugar by eating and drinking their way through a prawn cocktail starter, turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas pudding, trifle, a glass of wine and one of bubbly.

For children (under 16s), who would have smaller portion sizes, the sugar count is still more than twice the adult recommended daily intake in just one meal. Our figures suggest youngsters could be consuming 74g of sugar, with a glass of orange juice (150ml) making up the equivalent of more than 3 teaspoons on its own.

Christmas sugar in figures

5,724,301kg of sugar will be consumed in the UK over Christmas lunch, which is an equivalent weight to:

• 21,045 reindeer with an average weight of 200kg
• 3,577,688 Paw Patrol Zoomer toys with a weight of 1.6kg each
• 1,654,442 Nerf N Strike Mega Mastodon Blaster toys with a weight of 3.46kg each
• 401,705 5ft Christmas trees
• 124,441,323 Christmas crackers

Laid end-to-end 5,724,301kg bags of sugar would stretch 994 miles – or about the distance by air from London to Lisbon.

Our very own Barry Cockcroft told us: “We often see and hear a lot about the number of calories we eat at Christmas, but here we’ve been amazed by the sheer volume of sugars concentrated in one meal.

Without even considering goodies like mince pies and chocolates, we can see how easy it is to eat more than three times the daily recommended intake of sugar in just one meal.  For children, who might have fruit juice with their dinner and be cracking open the chocolate at breakfast, they are particularly exposed.

“Nobody wants to spoil the Christmas fun, so while partaking of the seasonal excesses you can help protect the impact on your teeth with a few quick and easy steps on the day.

Christmas Day Top Tips for a healthy mouth

• Don’t forget to drink lots of water – as well as helping hangovers, it will help remove sugars from your mouth
• Brush your teeth after Christmas lunch if you can
• If you can’t, try chewing sugar free gum to neutralise harmful acids in your mouth
• Swap fortified wines, like sherry for spirits which contain little or no sugar
• Avoid sugary drinks and fruit juice, they attack and weaken the enamel on your teeth, go for sugar free options instead – including mixers.