Crack sugarcane

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A tax on sugary foods has been proposed and the cry has now been taken up here in the UK. But the response to such a proposal has been mixed - some say it will simply tax the poor even further, while others claim that focusing on sugar is wrong and that fat is really the problem.
The idea is not new. In Hungary there is a tax on all foods with unhealthy levels of sugar, salt and carbohydrates, and also products with high levels of caffeine. Denmark, Switzerland and Austria have all banned trans fats.

Research into sugar as an addictive substance has been revealing: the behavioural affects induced by sugar are similar to the neurochemical changes in the brain caused by addictive drugs. But more interesting still is the finding that both sugar and sweet tastes activate the same receptors in the brain that are switched on by heroin and morphine. This implies that even sugar substitutes, which have become a major industry, may actually be worsening, rather than helping, the problem.

The theory behind the tax is based on evidence that eating behaviour may be more responsive to price increases than to nutritional education. But there is also research showing that obese individuals are less responsive to changes in the price of food than normal-weight individuals. This implies such a tax will only persuade the healthy to be even more so, while the obese will simply carry on eating in the same way, only paying more for it. Has the huge taxation imposed on cigarettes ever actually stopped a nicotine addict from buying a pack? I doubt it.

Taxing certain foods is also risky - a carelessly imposed food tax can have surprising effects. In countries where a fat tax is in operation it has been observed that consumers eat more salt, putting them at higher risk of dying from heart disease.

Since the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on food, these taxes are likely to be regressive. Taxing foods with little nutritional value and subsidising healthy foods with the revenue generated may be a better solution.

But I don't think penalising the consumer is the answer. I think the food industry needs to come under Government regulation with legislation to control salt, trans fats and sugar content. Those manufacturers whose foods rate high on the unhealthy scale should be taxed more. Eventually it won't be cost-effective to produce junk food, the opposite case to the status quo.

Of course, the main objection to any sort of interference by a nanny state is that the healthy are penalised unfairly. But if the healthy are truly healthy they shouldn't be affected much by these changes. And maybe it is time to take one for the team, and put up with a little injustice for the greater good of our country folk.

Twitter @DoctorChristian