Obesity is a growing problem around the world. It is very pronounced in developed countries and it is becoming a major public health concern in many developing countries. One of the main contributors to obesity is the consumption sugar sweetened beverage (SSB).
In the United States (US), per capita consumption is 44 litres per year. This has sent alarm bells ringing, and many of the states are now trying to come up with various strategies of how to reduce the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages.
The American Heart Association has set a goal of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 per cent by the year 2020. As part of that goal, they recommend reducing SSB consumption to less than 450 kcal (36 oz) per week. They have endorsed several strategies which include increase taxes, reduce cup sizes and the introduction of warning labels on sugar sweetened beverages. Some states have implemented some of these measures, while others are currently contemplating introducing legislation.
Several countries have introduced taxes on sugar sweetened beverages, including Chile, France and Hungary, which taxes food and drinks with high sugar, salt and caffeine content. More recently, the UK announced that it would introduce a tax on some sugar sweetened beverages by 2018.
The rationale behind these taxes is to increase the price of the product. When the price of the product increases, consumption declines. In many countries where these policies have been implemented, the evidence suggests that people are buying fewer sugar sweetened beverages. So far, most of the taxes that have been implemented are point of sale taxes; for example in Mexico, taxes amount to one peso per litre.
The UK proposal is different; they plan to implement a tax on the sugar content of the drink. So for example, drinks that contain five to eight grams per 100 millilitres of liquid they will pay 18 pence (24 cents US) in taxes, while drinks with more than eight grams per 100 millilitres will pay 24 pence (31 cents US). It would be interesting to see if this proposal will achieve the intended goals when it is finally implemented in 2018.
In Guyana, obesity rates have been on the increase. According to the World Bank in 2010, estimated obesity rates among females was 29.3 per cent by 2014 this rose to 31.6 per cent.
While in 2010, the estimated obesity rate in males was 12.1 per cent and by 2014 this has risen to 14.4 per cent. This upward trend in obesity in our population is multifactorial. One of those factors would certainly be the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages.
If we will like to live a healthier life, then we should consider how much sugar sweetened beverages we are consuming, whether it is normal or too high. If it is too high, then we should prudently reduce the amounts consumed.
Nationally, we should also examine whether we are consuming too much sugar sweetened beverages, and what effects this is having on our population’s health. If there is a consensus that it is too high, then we should explore options on how to reduce it. We should explore the experiences of other countries and see whether some of their measures can be adopted to work in our setting.
Changing our individual behaviour to sugar sweetened beverages are not going to easy, but if the government creates an enabling environment for healthier living, then it would be much easier to adopt. Let’s hope that this can be done soon, so that we can arrest the upward trend of obesity.
