Tax on sugar could help us all shed half a stone, experts claim

Health experts believe a tax on sugar could help people lose weight

A TAX of 70 pence per bag of sugar would help people shed half a stone on average, a study claims.

 

Such a move would also "substantially reduce demand for sugar and sweets" and lower the incidence of Type 2 diabetes by 13 per cent, it is claimed.

A debate by health experts in medical journal the BMJ said the prevalence of coronary heart disease would also lessen, and the poorest would see the greatest health benefits.

Sirpa Sarlio-Lahteenkorva, adjunct professor and ministerial adviser at the ministry of social affairs and health in Finland, quoted a 2011 study that concluded that a tax on sugar generally would be more effective than targeting specific food categories, such as sugary drinks, which the British Medical Association has advocated.

The food industry may find this more acceptable because it would treat all sugar sources equally and it could also raise demand for new products with less sugar, which would be liable for less tax.

Ms Sarlio-Lahteenkorva said: "We need fiscal policies that take health seriously.

Sugary foods and sugar sweetened beverages are associated with weight gain.

"Governments must tackle the related adverse health effects, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hypertension.

A tax on sugar, preferably with measures that also target saturated fat and salt, and incentives for healthy eating, would help.

We need fiscal policies that take health seriously

Professor Sirpa Sarlio-Lahteenkorva

"The food industry argues that consumption taxes are ineffective, unfair, and damage the industry, leading to job losses; similar arguments are used by big tobacco.

However, taxation of commodities such as alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food seems justified when the burden of ill health is mostly paid for by society."

Jack Winkler, emeritus professor of nutrition policy at London Metropolitan University, pointed out another study found that a 10 per cent tax on soft drinks would reduce average daily intake by less than a sip, while another showed that a 20 per cent tax would reduce consumption by just four calories a day.

He also highlighted out Denmark's "fat tax" was abolished just a year after being introduced following "universal opposition and widespread evasion".