Study on Cork children lead to calls for sugar tax

A study conducted by UCC has concluded that a sugar tax could have a beneficial effect on young peoples health, after research conducted showed that overweight Cork children tended to consume more sugary soft drinks than average sized children.

The study, conducted across schools in Cork, looked at the relationship between sugary food and drink and weight, was presented to the European Congress on Obesity held in Portugal last week. Examining over 1,000 primary school children, Dr James Harrington concluded that taxing excessively sugary food and drink could have a positive effect on children’s health and size.

The study examined consumption of soft drinks over a three day period using food diaries and the height and weight of each child was also taken as a control.

The results showed categorically that the amount of sugary soft drinks consumed by overweight children far exceeded that of average sized children, with overweight children drinking 383ml a day, compared with 315ml for smaller sized children.

Adjusting for variables such as exercise and TV viewing, high consumers of sugary drinks were twice as likely to be overweight or obese.

Additionally, the research conducted showed a link between lower BMI and drinking less sugary drinks. Dr Harrington has called for the introduction of a sugar tax, saying that it will not only have a positive health benefit, but will also be invaluable for research. “While no single measure will reverse current trends in obesity, given the high level of consumption of SSD and the lack of nutritional value of these products, action needs to be taken to reduce consumption, particularly in high consumer groups, including children,” he said. “It is unlikely that the introduction of the tax will have direct short term impacts on obesity levels, but more likely that it will have more indirect impacts such as reduction in consumption of these beverages, increased consumption of non sugar beverages, product re-formulation by manufacturers and changes in public attitudes. This will be a fascinating experiment in public health policy,” he said.