'Orange juice bad for you'

People should stop drinking orange juice because it contains as much sugar as Coca-Cola, the UK government's leading adviser on obesity has warned.

Professor Susan Jebb said she had given up orange juice and urged others to "wean" themselves off it or dilute it.

Jebb is in charge of the UK government's responsibility deal, a series of voluntary pledges by industry aimed at tackling health problems such as obesity and alcohol abuse.

"Fruit juice isn't the same as intact fruit and it has got as much sugar as many sugar drinks,'' she said.

The warning was given after health experts warned sugar had become as dangerous as alcohol or tobacco. Professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Liverpool, Simon Capewell, described sugar as "the new tobacco".