Should a Sugar Tax Be Levied?

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Some may argue that a sugar tax is definitely ineffective to solve the health problem. The opponents claim that obesity and other nutrition–related non-communicable diseases have numerous causes such as imbalance diet, lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyle and etc. It is virtually impossible to attribute the public health problem to SSB consumption. As SSBs are not the main reason to cause obesity, implementing sugar tax is not working. In fact, the claim does not hold water. SSBs have long been suspected that they partly contribute to the obesity epidemic. However, in recent years, some large epidemiological studies tend to prove that there is a close relationship between SSBs and long-term weight gain or other related health problems. According to a study from the Journal of the Academic of Nutrition and Dietetics, it indicates that “According to multivariate analysis, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption between meals more than doubles the odds of being overweight when other important factors are considered in the multivariate analysis.” (Dubois et al., 2007, p.924) 28As large SSB consumption would probably lead to the obesity problem, imposing sugar tax is suggested to solve the problem effectively.

To sum up, a sugar tax should be levied in order to improve the public health and benefit the economy. A sugar tax is an effective method to solve the serious health problem. Indeed, education should be the fundamental mean to solve the obesity problem. It changes residents’ value set. If residents agreed that health was important, they would certainly change their living habit, no matter whether a sugar tax is implemented or not. Nevertheless, education is a long way to go. In the recent stage, it is necessary to implement sugar tax, which could address health issue important to our society. It might not be the best method to solve the problem but it should be a sparkling point of the discussion of health and an essential part of the health policy.

Total word count

1089

Number of words for quotations

134

Net Word count

955

References

Dubois L, Farmer A, Girard M, & Peterson K. (2007) Regular Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption between Meals Increases Risk of Overweight among Preschool-Aged Children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(6), 924-34, 10.1016/j.jada.2007.03.004

Jennifer Falbe, Hannah R. Thompson, Christina M. Becker, Nadia Rojas, Charles E. McCulloch, and Kristine A. Madsen. (2016) Impact of the Berkeley Excise Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption. American Journal of Public Health, 106, 1865-1871. 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303362

Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., Thomas Farley, M.D., M.P.H., Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H., Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., …David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D. (2009). The Public Health and Economic Benefits of Taxing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages. N Engl J Med, 361, 1599-1605. 10.1056/NEJMhpr0905723

Tsang (2016, September 23). Health and Environment: With one in five Hongkongers overweight, government urged to implement WHO call to tax all soft drinks. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2021926/world-health-organisation-urges-nations-put-lid

World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (2016). Technical Workshop on Taxing Sugar-sweetened Beverages, Manila, Philippines, 21-22 September 2016 : meeting report. RS/2016/GE/42(PHL). Manila, Philippines: Author