(Image source from: })
More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of US adults are obese. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight due to abnormal or excessive fat accumulation. This leads to a major risk to health. It is a fast emerging problem worldwide and should be addressed at the earliest. As an attempt to tackle with this burning health issue, British doctors are urging for an extra 20% tax on sugar-based drinks.
The urge for extra tax on sugar-based drinks is a part of fight against the country’s rising obesity epidemic. The British Medical Association (BMA) estimated that poor diets cause 70,000 premature deaths every year. Thus doctors believe that a tax of at least 20% is needed to deter customers as a 2-litre bottle would go from 1.85 pounds (about $2) to 2.22 pounds (about $3).
The report says that fruit and vegetables should be made cheaper with extra revenue. So that we “create an environment where dietary choices default to healthy options.” It added that sugar added to food or naturally present in fruit juice and honey should account for 5% of energy intake. While many people fail to meet the current recommended level of 10% as a huge amount of sugar is being consumed without realizing.
“I think it is a massive problem illustrated by the fact that obesity is increasing,” BMA doctor Shree Datta told the BBC. “We’re looking at 30 per cent of Britain’s population being obese by 2030, a large extent of that is due to the amount of sugar we’re actually consuming without realising,” the doctor added.
-Sumana
