This tax is aimed at reducing a growing epidemic in non-communicable diseases and oral health problems.
There is good reason to believe – from both local experience with tobacco and alcohol and international experiences with sugar as well as tobacco and alcohol – that taxes are an excellent mediator of consumer behaviour.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines recommend that adults and children reduce their intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake.
A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25g (six teaspoons per day) would provide additional health benefits.
Moreover, the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity set up by the WHO director-general recommended, inter alia, that taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would be an important mechanism to reduce childhood obesity.
It is important to note that one 330ml can of Coca Cola, for example, has about eight teaspoons of sugar, and therefore just one serving would provide the full recommended sugar intake per day.
Many other foods and the sauces added to food also contain sugar, not to mention discretionary intake.
While the national Department of Health was not responsible for introducing the tax, this intervention was noted as a “best buy” in the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases 2013-17 as well as in the department’s Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Obesity 2015-2020.
