‘Time to tax treats’
Obesity expert says junk food is now the main driver of disease
HIGHLY addictive junk foods like crisps, biscuits and chocolate should be the next targets of a Government sugar-style tax, a top obesity expert has said.
Professor Donal O’Shea said food companies targeting young children with high fat, high sugar and high salt food are way ahead of the Government.
It comes after official warnings that children and young people are eating more and more junk food during lockdown.
State agency Safefood found 49% of children were eating more unhealthy snacks or treats since lockdown, while 54% were less active and 67% were spending more time on screens.
The Central Statistics Office also found younger adults were more likely than other age groups to be eating more junk food since lockdown, as well as smoking and drinking more.
In a survey, almost seven-in-10 (69%) of people aged between 18 and 34 said they had increased their consumption of junk food and sweets, compared to just under three-in-10 in the over-70 age group.
Prof. O’Shea, the HSE clinical lead for obesity, said the Government could follow up the sugar tax on fizzy drinks with a tax on other unhealthy foods. ‘I think you’d have to start looking at a tax on highly processed foods, taxing the top shelf of the food pyramid, the crisps, the chocolate, the biscuits,’ the consultant said.
‘They are meant to be a small part of your diet but 85% of food advertising is spent on that shelf of the food pyramid and that’s because the margins are excellent, the shelf life is excellent and they are highly addictive.’
He said the State could follow our nearest neighbours in Britain in placing warning labels on obesityrelated food.
‘Public Health England are looking to do that. I would like us to look at doing that.
‘I think you’ve got to keep reminding people that too much, too often of these foods is really harmful and what we eat and drink now is the biggest driver of disease in our population.
‘They are talking about plain packaging especially for kids’ products. If you change that from multi-coloured and sparkly to just plain, sales drop.
‘The food industry is way ahead of governments and public agencies in terms of their advertising, in terms of their composition of their food and very targeted composition.’
He revealed how food companies target what are called bliss palate points in children and adults, a phrase coined to describe scientifically tweaking ratios of salt, sugar and fat to optimise consumer bliss.
He said: ‘A bliss point is the point on your palate when the combination of tastes and fat and sugar and salt becomes irresistible.
‘It is very different for a one-yearold, a three-year-old, a seven-yearold and a 77-year-old.
‘The industry is all over finding the bliss point and targeting products that are at that age group’s bliss point to that age group.
‘They know exactly what they’re doing and they’re doing it in a really coordinated and targeted fashion.
‘They need to get people habituated to this kind of food from as young an age as possible. Then they have you for life, because once your palate is habituated to high fat, high salt and sugar and then really nothing else will do.’
Prof. O’Shea, who is helping to shape the nation’s new preventative model of care for overweight and obesity, said that the sugar tax introduced by the Government had an immediate effect of the industry reformulating really rapidly across Europe to reduce sugar content to avoid tax.
‘So not only is the sugar tax generating income but it was actually resulting in a significant drop in the calorie intake of people going into shops because there is a lot less sugar in those drinks.’
The obesity consultant was dismayed at the response of confectionery firms to portion size control. ‘The food industry, when I was involved in the initial National Taskforce on Obesity said they would get rid of the King Size Mars bar and the King Size Snickers and they brought out the Duo.
‘I just thought, “God, are we trying to reduce portion size or not?”’
He said the food industry is a fundamental driver of the obesity crisis. ‘Back in the 70s and 80s if you were going to be obese in Ireland you were going to be 16, 17, 18 stone. We used to look at the Americans getting off the plane with the braces and the check shirts and we couldn’t believe how big they were. Then, over the last 40 years, McDonald’s and Burger King opened and physical activity declined. So the obese individual in the 70s was 17 or 18 stone and the obese individual in the 20s and noughties and the tens, were hitting 30 stone and 27 stone, those same figures we used to see in Americans 25 years ago.’
Prof. O’Shea said the food companies are also far ahead of the State when it comes to targeted advertising. ‘You hear the Government saying that they have a watershed for advertising for 9pm, you’re going, “For God’s sake, you have Spotify, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, that is much more targeted tracking everything”.’
At present, Ireland has one of the top rates of obesity in Europe.
‘Internationally we are in the lead in Europe alongside the UK and alongside Malta,’ said Prof. O’Shea. ‘In adult terms we’re about 10% behind the US, we have about 24% or 25% of adults who are obese and in the US it’s 33% to 34%.
He believes education at school can help to combat obesity in children. ‘I think what we have to do is have the schools have healthy eating, active living cultures that we monitor for effectiveness.’
‘Too much, too often, of these foods is harmful’
‘Are we trying to reduce portion size or not?’