LIFESTYLE NEWS - Debates on a proposed tax for sugar sweetened beverages in South Africa have reached fever pitch with the local food and beverage industry squaring up against the proposed sugary drinks tax expected to be implemented in April 2017.
Professor Karen Hofman and Aviva Tugendhaft provide a few facts.
What difference has a sugar tax made in other countries?
There are many cities and countries that have instituted a sugar tax. These include Mexico, France, Hungary, Chile, Columbia, Brazil, 23 states in the US and the cities of Philadelphia and Berkeley.
The introduction of a sugar tax in Mexico in 2014 resulted in a marked difference in consumption patterns. The country is one of the highest consumers of sugary beverages and has one of the highest obesity rates globally. More than one in three adults were classified as obese.
After the introduction of a 10% tax, the purchase of sugary beverages fell by 12% in the first year. Studies have also shown that since the tax was implemented people have switched to drinking water.
New evidence released in Berkeley in the US this year shows that after a sugar tax was introduced in the city sales of sugar sweetened beverages fell by as much as 20% in some areas.
What is important to note is that the introduction of a sugar tax always triggers a much greater level of awareness about why sugar, particularly liquid sugar, is especially harmful.
Why should there be a sugary beverage tax in South Africa?
It is well established that taxes are the most effective of several ways to reduce the consumption of sugary beverages. This is because taxes reach the entire population and are easily implemented.
About 40% of women and 11% of men suffer from obesity in the country.
South Africa needs one. The country has a massive and growing obesity epidemic. Obesity related lifestyle diseases now rival HIV/AIDS and TB in terms of their impact. About 40% of women and 11% of men suffer from obesity in the country. And 25% of teenage girls in rural South Africa are overweight or obese.
Across the country, research from the Global Burden of Diseases Nutrition and Chronic Diseases Expert Group shows that chronic diseases result in one death every hour. Obesity not only shortens a person’s lifespan, it also affects their quality of life. It leads to lifestyle diseases that result in strokes, blindness, amputations and kidney failure.
This health burden is linked to South Africans' daily sugar consumption. According to the World Health Organisation, people should not consume more than six teaspoons of sugar a day. Most 330ml fizzy sugary beverages contain nine teaspoons of sugar while fruit juices have 10. These sugary drinks have no nutritional value, don’t satisfy hunger and are particularly harmful to the body in liquid form.
An average teenager in Soweto consumes double the recommended daily limit through sugar sweetened beverages.
