Global proposal for punitive tax on sugary drinks to fight obesity

In a report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says if the taxes are increased, they will go along way in fighting what it says are global obesity and diabetes epidemics.PHOTO: COURTESY

The Government has been asked to increase tax on sugary drinks in an effort to help fight lifestyle diseases.

In a report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says if the taxes are increased, they will go along way in fighting what it says are global obesity and diabetes epidemics.

If retail prices of sugar-sweetened drinks are increased by 20 per cent through taxation, there is a proportional drop in consumption, it said in a report titled "Fiscal Policies for Diet and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases".

Obesity, the report says, more than doubled worldwide between 1980 and 2014, with 11 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women classified as obese.

"An estimated 42 million children under age five were overweight or obese in 2015," said WHO's Department of Nutrition and Health Director Francesco Branca. This was an increase of about 11 million children over the past 15 years.

Additionally, some 422 million adults across the world are diabetic.

The WHO said there was increasingly clear evidence that taxes and subsidies influence purchasing behavior, and that this could be used to curb consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and hence fight obesity and diabetes.

"We are now in a place where we can say there is enough evidence and we encourage countries to implement effective tax policy," said Temo Waqanivalu, the co-ordinator at WHO's department of Non-Communicable Diseases and Health Promotion.

Dr Branca said the US has the world's highest rates of obesity per population and that China has similar numbers among both men and women.

Sweet drinks are also popular in Latin America, where people in Chile and Mexico are the biggest consumers, he said.

WHO guidelines issued in March 2015 said that adults and children from the Americas to Western Europe and the Middle East need to roughly halve the amount of sugar they consume to lower risk of obesity and tooth decay.

"The guidelines mean people should reduce the amount to less than 10 per cent of their daily energy intake; or to about 50 grammes or 12 teaspoons of sugar for adults, but five per cent is even better," reads the report.

WHO are recommendations cover free sugars such as glucose and fructose, and sucrose or table sugar added to processed foods and drinks.