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Drinks

Health Experts Call For 20% Levy On Sugary Drinks In UK

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Health Experts Call For 20% Levy On Sugary Drinks In UK

Just days after French parliamentarians voted to put a tax on sugary drinks, medical experts in the UK are calling on their government to enforce a 20% levy of their own.

A British Medical Journal research paper calculates that a 20% tax would reduce number of obese UK adults by 180,000, while at the same time collecting £276 million a year.

The researchers, from Oxford and Reading, say a tax set at 20%, which would put 12p on a 60p can of cola, would reduce the number of obese UK adults by 180,000, a fall of 1.3%. It would cut the numbers who are overweight by 285,000 or 0.9%.

They say it would mostly help reduce the number of those who are obese or overweight in the 16-29 age group, who are the biggest consumers of these drinks.

"This is important to communicate to both the public and policymakers, who see the tax as a blanket measure on obesity," write Adam Briggs from the British Heart Foundation health promotion research group at Oxford University and his colleagues.

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The effect of the tax on obesity would not differ between richer and poorer sectors of society – even though obesity is greater in more deprived communities. "Taxation represents a measure to target population obesity, particularly among young people, but should not be seen as a panacea," they write.

Other countries, including Hungary, Finland and France as well as nearly half the states in the US, have introduced or increased taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks and yet there is still considerable debate about whether they are appropriate.

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