Extending the sugar tax to foods like sweets and chocolate could help the west with its “shocking” levels of obesity, one of Ireland’s leading experts has said. 

The Sugar Sweetened Drinks Tax was introduced for sugary drinks in 2018 and last year it swelled State coffers by €32 million. 

However, Professor Donal O’Shea of UC said reaction of the drinks companies to the tax was by far the most significant result of the tax. 

“Where the sugar tax worked was it [led to] massive reformulation by the companies to bring the sugar content of their main brands below a high tax thresholds,” he told The Pat Kenny Show. 

“And you had that across the United Kingdom and Ireland because [they both] introduced it at the same time. 

“So, taxation makes the food and drinks industry respond. Legislation makes the food and drinks industry respond.” 

Paper cones with sugar cubes in one and money (euro and pound notes and euro cents coins) symbolising sugar tax in EU

Professor O’Shea said he was recently in Manchester in the north of England and was “shocked” by what he saw. 

“I could not believe the degree of obesity I saw,” he said. 

He said the city is not an outlier and that obesity is “only getting worse” in many other places as well. 

Plain packaging and health warnings have reduced the number of people smoking but Professor O’Shea is ambivalent about whether this could work with food.  

“Do we want a society where you’re putting those on your jelly tots?” he said. 

“I’m not sure you do.” 

Solution

Instead, Professor O'Shea thinks the extension of the sugar tax to food could potentially help. 

“There’s no doubt that the… cakes, the ultra processed foods contribute about 25% of our daily calorie intake and don’t have any vitamins, minerals or nutrients,” he said. 

“They’re empty calories and the sugar tax only applied to drinks; it didn’t apply to any of the other confectionery items. 

“So, I think you need to look at, ‘Do we introduce a tax there that will drive reformulation by the food and drink industry?’”

The HI Survey 2019 found that 23% of Irish people were obese and that 37% were overweight.

Main image: Cakes for sale. Picture by: Alamy.com