Sugar Tax on Soft drinks arrives in the UK! The new tax will see the price of many popular soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Sprite increase in both shops and restaurants. The drink companies will pay a charge for the drinks they make with added sugar and a total sugar content of five grams or more per 100 ml so around 5% sugar content which equates to 18p per litre. For drinks that contain more sugar like eight grams per 100ml they will pay a higher charge of 24p per litre.
Is the tax really necessary? Well as a nation it is a known fact we consume far too much sugar. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advise free sugars should be restricted to a maximum of 10% of our energy needs, preferably 5%. The UK government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) also echo’s this advice, which has led to the decision to introduce the sugar drinks tax in the UK, implemented in April 2018. The purpose of this sugar tax is to curb rising levels of obesity in both adults and children. Shockingly 1 in 10 primary school children in England are obese. Furthermore a high sugar intake is associated with heart disease, insulin independent diabetes, tooth decay, and certain cancers.
Did you know? There is 35 grams of sugar in a 330ml can of Coca-Cola. This is equivalent to 7 teaspoons of sugar!
The money from the tax will go to the Department for Education which is positive. Now we will see in time if the sugar tax discourages consumers from purchasing and drinking soft drinks. Also if it will be expanded to confectionary and chocolate, as these are high in sugar (Unless its dark chocolate!). A better approach to reduce consumers sugar intake is for the government health organisations like SACN and DOH to smack, slap, kick – I mean force food manufacturing companies to reduce sugar in their food and drinks and to use natural sweeteners. Not artificial sweeteners as we are not fully aware of the long- term health implications of these chemicals either. Furthermore more education around balanced healthy eating should be taught and promoted. As the average number of portions of fruit and vegetables is still 1-2 a day, lower than the recommended 5 a day and much lower than my ideal recommended of 8 a day!!
