LETTER

Can a sugar tax help solve our obesity problem?

 

Canada has been fighting a war on obesity for decades. Yet, obesity now affects four in ten of us, often leading to serious complications such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Perhaps that’s because we’ve been targeting the wrong enemy. Until recently, efforts were focused on fat intake, but research is now pointing to excessive sugar as one of the main culprits. Recent revelations show this misinformation was intentional, with the sugar industry putting forth significant, long-term efforts to hide this connection that are reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s efforts to deny the health impacts of smoking.

Refined sugars are in most of the food we eat—soda, cereals, canned soup, and fast food, just to name a few. Sugar-sweetened beverages such as pop, fruit drinks, sports drinks and the like are particularly damaging, as they have minimal nutritional value and, despite the calories, don’t quench an appetite. Drinking just one sugar-sweetened beverage a day has been linked to increased weight gain, a 20 per cent increase in the risk of heart disease and a 26 per  cent increase in the risk of diabetes.

Sugar taxes have been championed by the World Health Organization and World Medical Association. Recent leaked documents highlighting in-depth strategies by the beverage industry to prevent or repeal these taxes also demonstrate that a tax works.

A recent Senate report recommended a sugar tax as one of 21 measures to address obesity. We must take this recommendation seriously. Advocates, policymakers, researchers and the public need to collaborate and make such a tax a reality.

Mats Junek
Toronto