Leading scientists have called on the government to launch a package of new measures to target the consumption of added-sugar soft drinks, biscuits, cakes and confectionery, a day ahead of a crucial report on carbohydrates in the UK diet.
Speaking at the Science Media Centre in London today, Susan Jebb, professor of diet and population health at the University of Oxford, claimed there was a “specific link” between sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain that was contributing to the nation’s obesity crisis.
“It’s not just carbonated drinks but energy drinks, sports drinks; there are a whole range of drinks which we should be targeting,” she said.
Professor Jebb, who is the chair of the Responsibility Deal food network, added she would back the development of a sugar tax as one option, despite admitting there was a lack of evidence over whether it would be effective.
“My view as a scientist is we need to take more action,” she said. “We have to look at options that we’re not yet exploring and taxation is one of those.”
Professor Jebb said there also needed to be new measures to tackle the amount of sugar in other products including confectionery, which she described as “the big one”, biscuits and cakes.
In-store marketing
Professor Tom Sanders, head of the diabetes and nutritional sciences division at King’s College London, called for restrictions on in-store marketing of sugary drinks and a ban on sponsorship of sporting events, claiming that supermarkets were in part to blame.
“Some of these drinks such as energy drinks can contain 60 or 70 grams of sugar in a bottle. The major supermarkets are a problem in the way they market them,” he said.
He explained walking down the fizzy drinks aisle as forcing customers to do “the walk of shame”.
Tomorrow sees the release of a report on carbohydrates by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), as well as a Public Health England document set to outline options to reduce sugar intake. These are likely to include a consultation over mandatory sugar reduction targets and a sugar tax, although the Department of Health and the Labour Party have both expressed strong opposition to taxation as a way forward.
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