Will the sugar tax help obesity?

It is well known that obesity in the UK is on the rise.

One-in-five 10-11 year olds are now obese and a quarter of UK adults are obese and a further 37% are overweight.

One of the main contributors to the rise in obesity is fizzy drinks, so the Government recently introduced a sugar tax on the makers of sugary soft drinks to try to combat the crisis. But will it actually work? I’m going to break it down a little and give you my opinion.

Why has the sugar tax been introduced?

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has put the sugar tax in place for two reasons: 1. To improve the health of the next generation – doing the right thing for the next generation is what this Government and this Budget is about. No matter how difficult and how controversial it is, you cannot have a long-term plan for the country unless you have a long-term plan for our children’s health care.” 2. Reduce costs for the NHS.

Obesity and its consequences cost the NHS £5.1 billion every year! If the obesity rates are reduced then that means less money will be spent on obesity-related medication and hospital costs, for example.

Where will the tax money go?

The money from the levy is estimated to raise £520million, and this money will be used for extra funding towards sport in primary and secondary schools.

What drinks will be taxed, and when?

Manufacturers will be taxed according to the quantity of the sugar-sweetened drinks they produce or import. There will be two categories of taxation: one for total sugar content above 5g per 100ml, and a second, higher band for drinks with more than 8g per 100ml.

This means a standard can of Coca-Cola – costing about 70 pence – would have an 8p tax placed on it, while a can of Sprite would have an additional levy of 6p, when the sugar tax is introduced in 2018.

Pure fruit juices and milkbased drinks will not be included. Will It Work? In my opinion, the sugar tax alone will not work, but it’s a good start!

Fizzy drinks aren’t the only cause of obesity which is why we must look into the other contributing factors too.

Sugary cereals, bread, fruit juices (which aren’t included in the sugar tax), and other readily available pre-prepared foods are to blame too, as they all contain huge amounts of sugar.

We need to do more to educate children at an early age, so they can make better decisions later in life.

I think every school should have a compulsory nutrition class in their timetable.

I also think more pressure should be put on the Government to make changes to the way companies are allowed to package and label their food.

A lot of people get confused, or mislead by certain labels because of clever marketing or wording.

Things like ‘reduced sugar’ or ‘no added sugar’ does not necessarily mean the product has low sugar, so be careful.

Do you know how much sugar your children should be having?

Children between the age of 4-6 years should have no more than 19 grams of sugar per day.

Children between the age of 7-10 years should have no more than 24 grams of sugar per day.

Children over the age of 11 years should have no more than 30 grams of sugar per day.

If you’re unsure about how much sugar you’re kids are consuming you should download the Change4Life Sugar Smart app and become more aware of their consumption.

It’s easy to use. Just open the app and scan the bar code on the item they’re consuming and it simply tells you how much sugar it contains.