Soda Tax – It’s about time!
Barry Popkin, an international nutrition expert who has advised policy makers not only in the US but also around the world, says taxing surgery drinks the way cigarettes are currently taxed could help put an end to the obesity crisis plaguing most nations.
“I’d like a system where sugary drinks were taxed the most, diet drinks less and water not at all,” he told Reuters. “If that tax added even 15 or 20 percent to the cost, it would have a significant effect on weaning society off sugary drinks.”
Popkin says sugary drinks now make up between 10% and 25% of all the calories we consume, and by simply switching to water we could cut between 300 and 600 calories from our diets daily. But cutting out sugary drinks is not as easy as it may sound. The professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina says we developed a taste for the calorie-laden drinks and that’s why countries’ health policy makers should look into taxing and banning them like they do with tobacco. Since the new laws regarding smoking and cigarettes have been put in place, many Europeans have kicked the bad habit, with studies showing the positive effect on cancer rates.
Popkin also says that in the fight against obesity, too little emphasis is being placed on the huge caloric impact of sugary drinks on bulging waistlines.
“Activity is not the solution – you can’t run off a Coke or an ice-cream cone or candy bar very easily – it takes a lot of exercise to offset an extra hundred calories.”
Celeb Diet Doc…
It’s simple. Smoking causes heart disease, cancer and emphysema. A cigarette tax is levied to offset the associated enormous health care costs caused by smoking, that WE ALL PAY FOR. In the same way there absolutely needs to be a tax on sodas that are directly linked with obesity related conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol etc. The food companies that make these products are liable for the increase health care costs that WE ALL PAY FOR in the end.
So if you buy sodas or other junk foods, you will need to pay the tax to cover the increased health care costs that these products have caused. Or you can just eat healthy in the first place.
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