why is the sugar tax bad??

Public health has always been an issue for government for hundreds of years.

It picks up the tab becayse the cost of dealing with obesity is going to plunge the health service into crisis. It should pay for itself or people should accpet more tax rises.

Not all calories are born equal. A banana is full of calories that are nutritionally dense in comparison. A mars bar is not full of vital nutrients and minerals which the body needs.

Food is fuel. A mars bar is ok for a treat every now and then. Although the sugar will convert to energy and "fuel" it won't nourish the body and feed our cells with vital nutrients.

Not all calories are born equal. A banana is full of calories that are nutritionally dense in comparison. A mars bar is not full of vital nutrients and minerals which the body needs.

Food is fuel. A mars bar is ok for a treat every now and then. Although the sugar will convert to energy and "fuel" it won't nourish the body and feed our cells with vital nutrients.

Could you be more specific in what way it's not the same?

The important variable is satiety. Sugary foods tend not to be satiating so it's easy to eat too much of them. Fruits and vegetables are much more satiating. But eat too many calories from ANY source and you'll get fat.

A big problem is that people like to view certain foods and healthy and others as unhealthy. This isn't useful*. It a whole diet and lifestyle that's healthy or not.

*There are a few exceptions such as salt and trans fat.

Why not just section the obese, lock them up until they're skinny. If you manage to get yourself to the point of obesity clearly there must be some underlying mental health issues, they're a danger to themselves, we already section and force treatment on people for less.

Food coloring's, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, saturated fats, carcinogens, arsenic - all of these are frequently found in processed foods and all of which are very bad for you.

You are talking from a weight gain/weight loss angle - fad dieting. Snake oil sellers telling you that you can eat what you want as part of a 'balanced' diet and not put on fat.

Again my point - who in the world ever got fat from eating a diet high in fruits and veggies? Where is the evidence of this? There is plenty of evidence of people on high fruit and veggie diets being lean and healthy. There are also millions of cases of ill health as a result of processed foods and fatty foods.

The perception of 'diet' is so mislead in today's society and your points sadly reinforce this,

Disproportionately affects the poor. Is a blunt instrument, no one would contest that tonic water is damaging peoples' health. Milk based drinks are exempt, so milkshakes escape. Targets only drinks, not fast food etc.

Everybody outside politics knows that adding a tax is not effective in changing behavior, but it will just generate revenue from those who drink sugary drinks the most, who might happen not to be the political class. Adding 20p on to the price of a litre of coke will not stop people buying it. For various reasons, humans cannot be treated rational economic actors which this measure attempts to do.

Aside from generating revenue, it will not work.

67% of men and 57% of women in the Uk are obese or overweight.

24.9% of men are obese. That would mean sexcioning tens of millions of people (including students and children).

We dont have the places. It would cost a lot of money. Services and the economy would collapse etc.

Mental health issue? they eat too much and dont move enough.

You are talking from a weight gain/weight loss angle - fad dieting. Snake oil sellers telling you that you can eat what you want as part of a 'balanced' diet and not put on fat.

Again my point - who in the world ever got fat from eating a diet high in fruits and veggies? Where is the evidence of this? There is plenty of evidence of people on high fruit and veggie diets being lean and healthy.

There are also millions of cases of ill health as a result of processed foods and fatty foods.

Once you start sectioning people i'm sure those numbers will start falling dramatically, who wants to be locked up with a load of fruit cakes?



Well yeah, they're incapable of controlling themselves, looking after themselves, they're self harming, they're a danger to themselves and potentially their children. We section anorexics why not the obese.

Where is there clear evidence that the majority of artificial sweeteners in our food are very bad for us. Do link me the peer-reviewed studies that reach this conclusion. Aspartame, etc

What's wrong with low - moderate intake of saturated fat?

Not all processed foods are equal. Inclusion of trans fats are bad, yes. Certain types of processing is bad, yes like removal of fibre/complex carbs. But not all can be tarnished with the same brush.

You arent gloing to section from 15-30 million people. Dont be silly.

You are massively blowing it out of proportion.

Do you do this speech when you are asked to pay for plastic bags?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I thought it was obesity that caused type II diabetes rather than sugar per se: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Enjoy-food/Eating-with-diabetes/Diabetes-food-myths/Myth-sugar-causes-diabetes/

These studies challenge the long-standing dogma that “a calorie is just a calorie” and suggest that the metabolic effects of food may matter as much as its energy content. The discovery that fructose-mediated generation of uric acid may have a causal role in diabetes and obesity provides new insights into pathogenesis and therapies for this important disease.

Experimental studies provide insight into potential biological mechanisms and illustrate that intake of SSBs increases T2D and cardiovascular risk factors. SSBs promote weight gain by incomplete compensation of liquid calories and contribute to increased risk of T2D not only through weight gain, but also independently through glycemic effects of consuming large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars and metabolic effects of fructose.

Here's the problem.

Margarine, sunflower oil, corn oil etc cause obesity and tooth decay.

Not sugar.

Phytic acid from grains causes tooth decay.

We need to ban and tax sunflower oil and margarine.

...

What about rape oil?

Posted from TSR Mobile

You are massively blowing it out of proportion.

Do you do this speech when you are asked to pay for plastic bags?

Posted from TSR Mobile

The plastic bag charge is about protecting the environment for everyone.

The sugar tax is about protecting adult citizens from their own decisions.