The obesity (obesity) According to studies, it has doubled worldwide since 1990 and quadrupled in children. In Austria Every third boy and every fourth girl of primary school age is already affected by overweight or obesity. The EU has therefore been wanting to take action against this for some time and is planning a sugar tax. As if that wasn’t enough, there will also be higher taxation from next year highly processed foods with high fat, sugar and salt content and on alcopops. The commission wants details Mid-December submit.
“A carefully designed EU-wide micro levy can maintain price stability and at the same time effect behavioral changes“, says the Commission’s draft. In this way, consumers’ decisions could be influenced without causing undue financial burden. At the same time, manufacturers would be motivated to make their products healthier. The revenue from the levy is intended exclusively for EU-wide health promotion programs be used.
Last weekend the Working Group for Clinical Nutrition (AKE) held its autumn congress on the topic “Sugar and fat – too much of a good thing makes you sick”. “Sugar added to soft drinks and foods is a major culprit,” says Univ. Prof. Dr. Felix Keil, specialist in internal medicine at the Hanusch Hospital in Vienna.
Recommendations
Accordingly, the WHO recommends 50 grams of sugar a day, ideally 25 grams. For children, 5 to a maximum of 10 percent of the energy they need should be provided by sugar. “This amount is used by many children who come to the children’s outpatient clinic in the Floridsdorf health center as part of the ‘Enorm in Form’ program. massively exceeded“, said Keil to the KURIER. “This circumstance is in turn responsible for the increase in obesity.” In summary, this causes inflammation, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and also tumors.
Keil is therefore in favor of a sugar tax (on soft drinks) recommended by the WHO and which already exists in Great Britain. “The sugar tax works in the UK.” It does not apply to soft drinks with more than 5 percent added sugar content. Because this has fallen by 30 percent. And there was no substitution with other sweetened drinks. As a result, the prevalence of obesity among girls (10 to 11 years old) has fallen by 8 percent. Tooth decay has even fallen by twelve percent.
The domestic food industry, on the other hand, can benefit from the success of such taxes cannot understand. In Great Britain, sugar consumption had already fallen before the introduction of the soft drinks tax. “According to this, only about half of the free sugar saved in adults was attributable to soft drinks,” it says. Even if a soda tax were to reduce consumption, it would Calorie reduction too lowto have positive effects on health.
The soft drinks tax, which is always cited as best practice Mexico This only resulted in a saving of around 6 calories per day (equivalent to a small bite of apple). The fat tax in Denmark also showed no noticeable improvement in public health and was therefore abolished.
The industry, however, advocates one Adjustment of portion sizes. “According to the WHO, the OECD and the McKinsey Global Institute, this is the measure with by far the highest impact and the best cost-effectiveness in the fight against overweight and obesity.” A larger selection of smaller containers could also help.