Disadvantages Of Sugar Tax

The rising prevalence of obesity is a major concern worldwide, both in high and low income countries. According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) nearly two-thirds of the population worldwide live in a country where overweight and obesity causes more deaths than underweight (WHO, 2009). The risk of a number of chronic non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, increases with increasing body mass index. According to the WHO (2009) “44% of diabetes burden, 23% of ischaemic heart disease burden and 7-41% of certain cancer burdens are attributable to overweight and obesity” (p.18). Although the causes of obesity are complex, there is much evidence that over-consumption of energy-dense

Once society shifts away from consuming sugary drinks and the food industry improves the types of beverages supplied to consumers and substitutes with healthier options, the need to continue education on the dangers of sugary drinks etc will also decrease. (need to revise)

Rose also mentions four disadvantages of the population strategy. First, that is “offers only a small benefit to each individual’. Likewise, the sugar tax offers very little benefit to each individual in the shortterm. It has been argued that the sugar tax will only reduce caloric intake by ….. Need to find example. The impact of a sugar tax on reducing sugar

The tax on sugar sweetened beverages is also an example of the prevention paradox that is described by Rose. That is, even though a sugar tax is likely only to have a modest benefit to the health of most of the population, the overall effect “is greater than if only targeting those who drink large quantiites of SSBs”

Interventions:

1) Introduction of sugar taxes in several countries – population based strategy; likely to have more effect than targeted high risk strategies

2) NZ:

In New Zealand, the Active Families is a nutrition and physical activity programme for families of obese and overweight children. In addition to promoting physical activity it assists families to gain nutrition knowledge and promotes healthy eating. This programme is an example of a high-risk strategy as children and their families identified as at risk (ie. Already obese or overweight) are referred by health professionals for intervention.

According to Rose, one of the advantages of the high-risk strategy is that the intervention is “appropriate to the individual”. In Active Families, the programme is individualised according to the needs and situation of the child and family at risk. As a result, the child and family are more likely to be motivated to improve their diet and