Thirst for sugar tax grows

The sugar content of drinks commonly consumed by Kiwi kids has surprised researchers, who say more effort is needed to produce healthier beverages.

New Zealand academics involved in the international sugar study claim self-regulation of the beverage industry is not working and the Government must step in to save children from obesity.

But Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says he has no intention of imposing a sugar tax, opting to tackle obesity by other means.

The study, published in The Australian and New Zealand

Journal of Public Health, involved researchers from Toi Ohomai (formerly Waiariki) Institute of Technology, AUT and Canada’s Waterloo University.

They analysed the sugar content of 656 supermarket-sold beverages that New Zealand children commonly consumed, including fruit juices, cordials, dairy/ soy-based drinks, bottled water and carbonated soda drinks.

This was part of a larger, ongoing study by countries including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Researchers found 48 per cent of products exceeded the United States’ recommended serving size for sugar of 240mL.

Fruit juice and carbonated soda drinks were found to get more than 85 per cent of their total energy content from sugar. They were also the two categories with the most products containing more than 10 per cent sugar.

Researchers also found a ‘‘slight downward trend’’ in the mean sugar content of fruit juices and carbonated soda drinks from amounts detected five years ago.

It wasn’t clear if this was due to less sugar being added, or to manufacturers increasing the number of products with other sweeteners.

Dr Lynne Chepulis, of Toi Ohomai, said industry self-regulation was not working. ‘‘New Zealand has the worst profile ... The UK, by comparison, is making significant inroads in reducing the sugar content of fizzy drinks.’’

Britain implemented a sugar levy on soft drinks in 2016. Chepulis did not support a sugar tax but said producers could instead use natural sweeteners.