Is the sugar tax working?

It seems that the UK Government’s tax on sugar has hit a sweet spot by cutting soft drink consumption without affecting sales revenue.

A new study has showed that the volume of drinks purchased did not change, but the sugar content in these drinks decreased by around 30g per household per week or almost 10 per cent.

That is the equivalent to three fewer teaspoons of sugar per person per week.

The sugar tax which came into effect in April 2018, charged manufacturers 18p a litre if soft drinks contained more than 5g of sugar per 100ml, or 24p for 8g of sugar. The new study conducted by Cambridge’s Centre for Diet and Activity Research (Cedar) said that the tax ‘represents a valuable win-win for public health and the food industry’.