The sugar tax has been so successful in improving people’s diets that it should be extended to cakes, biscuits and chocolate, health experts say.
The World Health Organization wants the next UK government to expand the levy’s coverage to tackle tooth decay, obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
The plea was published in the WHO bulletin, which calls on governments around the world to use food reformulation to tackle the growing obesity crisis.
Experts from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have analyzed the results of two flagship policies aimed at making food healthier: the sugar tax and the sugar reduction programme, which were introduced in 2018 and 2015 respectively.
The soft drink industry levy led to a 34.3% drop in total sugar sales from such products between 2015 and 2020, with many carbonated drinks containing much less.
But the sugar reduction program only delivered a 3.5% drop in the amount of sugar used in the manufacture of the everyday foods it covers over the same period, the experts write in their analysis for the WHO.
Dr. Kawther Hashem, co-author and lecturer in public health nutrition at QMUL, said ministers should try a sugar tax on foods that still contain almost as much sugar as in 2015, despite companies being asked to reduce sugar by 20% by 2020.
That could be applied to three products that, according to figures from the government’s Office for Health Improvements and Disparities, have recorded only a small decrease in their sugar content – chocolate 0.9% less, cookies 3.1% and cakes 3.2%, Hashem said.
It can also be used to reduce the amount of sugar in sweetened milk-based drinks such as frappucinos, milkshakes and bubble tea, she added.
The analysis reads: “Given the proven success of the levy in the soft drink industry in encouraging reformulation, we therefore recommend that policymakers consider applying a similar levy to other discretionary products that make a significant contribution to sugar intake. ”
Research shows that the sugar tax has helped reduce obesity among teenage girls and led to a drop in the number of children hospitalized for tooth decay.
The authors, including Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular health at QMUL, also lead the health research and campaign groups Action on Sugar and Action on Salt.
“Unhealthy food that contains too much salt, sugar and fat and too little fruit, vegetables and fiber is now the leading cause of death in the world. The new government must control the food industry rather than be subordinate to its products,” MacGregor said.
Legally enforceable restrictions on salt, sugar and fat would force manufacturers to make products healthier and more sustainable
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would reduce strokes, heart attacks and cases of cancer, many of which are linked to poor diet, he said.
The director of the Obesity Health Alliance, Katharine Jenner, said the move from ministers asking companies to voluntarily make their products more nutritious to forcing them to do so through a sugar tax-like levy was necessary after “more than a decade of failure from both government and industry” to improve dietary habits.
She also supported the experts’ call for ministers to ensure that baby and toddler food contains less sugar.
“Supporting healthier diets in the early years by removing sugar from commercial baby food would be a great first step. There is an incorrect assumption that baby foods such as pouches and snacks are already regulated above and beyond other food products… when it comes to food, the opposite is true.
“These products often contain very high sugar content, but are covered in misleading labeling and health claims, leading parents to believe the products are healthier than they are.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said it could not comment due to the general election.