The British Government’s recent decision to combat the rising incidence of obesity in the UK by introducing a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks has stimulated debate about whether a similar tax should be introduced in Australia. Hartley Henderson investigates.
But is a tax an appropriate way to address the issue of overweight and obesity in Australia? Or is more education and better labelling needed, and should more be done by the beverage industry sector to reduce the amount of sugar added to non-alcoholic beverages?
The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) points out that in Australia two thirds of adults and one quarter of children are overweight or obese, that sugary drinks are a major contributor to this, and that they are a risk factor for overweight and obesity, which can increase the risk of many common diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
According to the OPC’s Executive Manager, Jane Martin, the introduction of a levy of 20 percent on the retail price of sugary drinks is recommended by the World Health Organisation as a key policy to address overweight and obesity, particularly in children.
“Added sugar is a key contributor to overweight and obesity and sugary drinks are by far the largest contributor of added sugar in Australian diets,” she told Food & Beverage Industry News.
“Increasing the price of sugary drinks in Australia has the potential to reduce consumption by around 12 percent, putting downward pressure on weight gain and thereby preventing disease and premature death.
“While education around a healthy diet is important, a single intervention in isolation cannot be expected to have a substantial effect on overweight and obesity rates. That is why it is important to have a national healthy weight strategy which includes a range of elements to support healthy eating.
“This should align with recommendations from the World Health Organisation including a tax on sugary drinks, tough restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy food to children, making healthier food available in settings such as hospitals, as well as supporting the widespread adoption of clear food and drink labelling to support healthier choices. This will work to help make the healthy choice the easy choice for Australians.”
Martin believes the nutrition information panel on sugary drinks can be difficult for people to understand and interpret.
“Some health advocates have suggested that icons like teaspoons be used to more clearly represent the amount of sugar in products like soft drinks. The public is interested in how much sugar there is in food and drinks, so this could be a way of helping them better understand how much sugar packaged food and drinks contain,” she said.
“Some work has been done around reformulation and we have seen Coca Cola and Pepsi low sugar cola options and smaller can sizes. However, these tend to be more expensive per 100ml and not as widely available or heavily promoted as their high-sugar products.”
Education not enough
Dr Lennert Veerman from the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health says the current policy of informing people about healthy diets combined with diet and exercise interventions for people with overweight or obesity has failed to slim Australia down.
“It is time to step up the efforts to combat obesity, and a tax on sugary drinks is one promising way to do this. Sugary drinks add calories but no nutrients, and because they don’t contribute to satiety, those calories are ‘extra’,” he told Food & Beverage Industry News.
“There is strong evidence that links consumption of sugary drinks to weight gain and obesity. We also know from studies in Australia and around the world that as prices go up, consumption goes down. The example of Mexico shows that this is no different for a tax on sugary drinks.
“In sum, the evidence is pretty strong that such a levy on sugary drinks would have a beneficial health impact in Australia. Our own findings suggest, for instance, that a levy that increases the price of sugary drinks by 20 percent is likely to prevent 800 new cases of diabetes per year.”
Lennert believes that educating people about a healthy diet is important but not enough, and that it is useful to draw a parallel with tobacco policy.
“Telling people to stop smoking was a start, but not very effective. What brought smoking rates down was a combination of information, help lines, smoking restrictions, advertising bans, and taxes. It looks like we are going to need a similar approach with sugary drinks to reduce obesity rates,” he said.
Tax ineffective
However, Geoff Parker CEO of the Australian Beverages Council claims a soft drinks tax will not solve the obesity problem as soft drinks contribute just 1.7 per cent of the daily intake of kilojoules for Australian adults.
“There is still no evidence globally that soft drink has any impact on obesity rates. In fact, European countries like Denmark have introduced and subsequently repealed a ‘fat tax’ within 18 months due to its blatant ineffectiveness. When introduced in Mexico, the tax only reduced dietary intake by 6 calories,” he told Food & Beverage Industry News.
“Whilst theoretical modelling might point to taxes as a solution, in reality these punitive measures are ineffective, inefficient and unfair for a number of reasons.
“On the other hand, there certainly is a need to increase education. A 2014 national poll of 2,136 Australians found that unequivocally, people saw education programs about a healthy diet and physical activity as the most effective way to address overweight and obesity, and the most supported.
“On a scale of nine options to address the problem, respondents ranked nutritional information on labels (2nd) and vending machines (3rd) as the next most effective and supported options. Those measures to address overweight and obesity viewed as the least effective and least supported were a tax on soft drinks (8th out of 9) and restrictions by government on where parents can give their children soft drinks (9th out of 9).
“The non-alcoholic beverages industry has always been committed to ensuring that consumers are provided with high quality, safe and appropriately labelled products. Launched in 2006, the Daily Intake Guide (DIG) was introduced to ensure the energy (kilojoule) content of our beverages is clearly visible for consumers to compare products at the supermarket shelf and therefore make more informed choices.
“In 2014, the Health Star Rating system was developed by the Australian, state and territory governments in collaboration with industry, public health and consumer groups. The energy-only declaration for beverages as part of the new labelling system is slowly replacing the original DIG which the beverages industry voluntarily introduced in 2006.”
Parker said the industry is continuously developing new low and mid-level sugar-sweetened beverages to offer the consumer alternatives to regular kilojoule beverages.
“The industry is working closely with suppliers of various natural sweeteners to decrease the sugar content without altering the taste. In addition to offering more low sugar alternatives, the industry is also working on decreasing the serving sizes,” he said.