Lifestyle · Oct 01, 2024

UK Sugar Tax: Cutting Sugar While Ultra-Processed Foods Thrive

April 2018: the UK’s sugar tax arrived like a knight in shining armour, ready to save us from our sugar cravings. It was celebrated as a genius move – a big, bold stand against our rising sugar consumption, especially in soft drinks. Finally, the government was stepping in, and boy, did they enjoy taking credit

Cue the fanfare because… drumroll, please… sugar consumption went down!

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Indeed, according to the official stats, sugar consumption (especially in drinks) dropped after the tax kicked in. Children in particular were drinking fewer sugary drinks and some studies even claimed that children’s sugar intake halved. That’s massive!

Naturally, the government wasted no time in patting themselves on the back and calling the sugar tax a huge success. They even floated the idea of using this “brilliant” taxation model to tackle other health issues.

But hang on a minute…

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Sugar has gone down but diabetes and obesity is still on the rise. Why?

Success, you say?

Before we all go popping champagne, there’s one pesky question that hasn’t been answered: Where are the actual public health benefits?

The government proudly (and rightly) recognised the drop in sugar consumption, but have you noticed they didn’t actually refer to any actual improvements in public health? That’s not an oversight - it’s because there aren’t any.

Because while the sugar numbers may be down, obesity and diabetes have continued to rise. In fact, last year 26.2% of adults were classified as obese and it’s the same troubling story for kids. Diabetes? On the up, particularly type 2 in people under 40.

So, what gives?

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Ultra-processed food is still everywhere

Turns out, sugar wasn’t the main villain we thought it was. Sure, manufacturers were made to cut sugar to avoid the tax, but they didn’t just make things healthier. Oh no. Whether knowingly or completely unwittingly – we’ll let you decide - they swapped sugar for artificial sweeteners and other cheap fillers, creating ultra-processed “Franken-foods” that are arguably even worse.

These ultra-processed foods are calorie-packed, nutrient-starved and crafted to be addictive. They’re loaded with refined carbs, unhealthy fats and enough preservatives to make a Twinkie survive nuclear fallout.

So, while it’s true there’s less sugar in soft drinks, unfortunately there’s still plenty of junk. It’s that which is driving obesity and diabetes levels. But hey, at least we have less sugar, right?

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"Diet" soft drinks are a classic example of industry having removed sugar and replaced it with something worse: sweeteners and ultra processed foods

Benefits to the food industry

As I mentioned earlier, we’ll leave it to you to decide on the decision-making process of the food industry. But when you consider the actual benefits the sugar tax brings to the food industry, it’s hard to think they weren’t bloomin’ delighted about it.

Because while it may seem like the government was being tough on the food industry, forcing them to use less sugar for the good of the population, they actually presented the food industry with the opportunity to massively benefit from it.

Let me explain.

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Swapping sugar for sweeteners is a real win for manufacturers. Why? Because sweeteners:

never expire (unlike sugar)
are not susceptible to variations in crop harvests (unlike real-food ingredients)
are made in a lab so they can be produced in the country needed (thus eliminating transportation costs)

…all of which results a lovely boost to profit margins for large, multi-national food manufacturers.

Out with the sugar, in with the Aspartame (which, despite the World Health Organisation classifying as a known carcinogen, is now present in over 50% of soft drinks).

But don’t worry – sugar is down!

Let’s give credit where credit’s due – the government succeeded in cutting down sugar and the food industry did what it was told. If you only care about that one stat, it looks like a win. But if you’re wondering why they’re not shouting about public health benefits, well, that’s because there are none.

Focusing on sugar without tackling ultra-processed foods is like fixing a leaky pipe while ignoring the flood in your kitchen. It’s no surprise the sugar tax didn’t fix the problem.

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So, what now?

If we’re serious about tackling obesity and diabetes, we need to go beyond sugar. The real enemy is ultra-processed foods – and until we address that, no amount of sugar cutting is going to make a dent in public health.

The sugar tax? A good start, but a hollow victory if we don’t take the fight to where it really matters.