PotBelly: World Health Organization Recommends Taxes

World Health Organization (WHO), has urged all countries to consider introducing a sugary drinks tax, As part of global efforts to curb soaring obesity rate, especially in children. This was included in a report titled “Fiscal policies for Diet and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)”.

WHO’s advice came as more and more countries are considering fiscal measures to dissuade people from buying the large quantities of colas, lemonades and other sugary soft drinks that have been identified as a major cause of the global overweight and obesity crisis.

It was stated that tax has most impact on the young, those on low incomes and others who consume a lot of sugary drinks and would have the greatest positive effect on the health of those groups. Reduced consumption of sugary drinks means lower intake of “free sugars” and calories overall, improved nutrition and fewer people suffering from overweight, obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose or fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturers, cooks, or consumers, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. In 2014, more than one in three (39 per cent) adults worldwide aged 18 years and older were overweight.

Worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2014, with 11 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women (more than half a billion adults) being classified as obese. In addition, an estimated 42 million children aged under five years were overweight or obese in 2015, an increase of about 11 million during the past 15 years. Almost half (48 per cent) of these children lived in Asia and 25 per cent in Africa.

The number of people living with diabetes has also been rising, from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. The disease was directly responsible for 1.5 million deaths in 2012 alone.