Station 3

Station 3 is the first stop on the tour through Altusried in Bavaria. It belongs to a nutrition workshop that the Verbraucherzentrale Bayern, the Bavarian consumer advice centre, runs in schools. Pupils in grades seven and eight move through four stations in small groups, taking about ninety minutes for the whole rotation. Staff from the centre run the session in a regular classroom or group room.

This stop is where knowledge turns into practice, through a role play called "mach den zuckercheck", which means "do the sugar check". A fictional character sets the scene: the group adds up the free sugar in a typical day of foods and drinks. Nutrition labels and ingredient lists supply the numbers. When the day's total passes the recommended limit, the group identifies and discusses sugar-reduced alternatives that could bring it back down.

The other three stations round out the picture. One decodes the many names sugar hides under on packaging labels, and another matches sugar cubes to sweet and savoury products. A fourth examines how sugar gets marketed, sweeteners included. A Bavarian life-skills programme funds sessions like this one, and the state ministry for food, agriculture, forestry and tourism lends its support. High sugar consumption goes hand in hand with tooth decay, overweight and diabetes, yet many people still overshoot the recommended amount. The lesson stays simple: the small choices of one ordinary day can add up to more sugar than the daily limit allows.