Doctors renew calls for an Australian sugar tax
A tax of 40 cents per 100 grams of sugar added to beverages would help reduce obesity rates and raise funds for public health campaigns, reports the Xinhua News Agency, according to the Australian Medical Association (AMA). .
He said if Australia joined 85 countries and regions around the world to implement such a tax, the government could collect an additional 814 million Australian dollars ($563 million) in revenue per year.
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“Australians drink enough sugary drinks to fill 960 Olympic swimming pools each year. We need something to help people choose water instead,” WADA Vice President Danielle McMullen said on Friday. in a press release.
“Over a 25-year period, we estimate this would result in 16,000 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, 4,400 fewer cases of heart disease and 1,100 fewer cases of stroke.”
Are Australians consuming too much sugar?
A report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing in August found that in 2018 two-thirds of Australian adults – or 12.5 million people – were either overweight or obese.
Separate studies have found that Australians consume on average twice as much sugar as is recommended.
The AMA pointed out that an average 375 milliliter can of soda contains up to 50 grams of sugar, which is double the daily recommended amount.
On average, Australians consume 2.4 billion liters of sugary drinks each year.
According to the organization’s proposal, the tax would amount to about 16 cents per can, which it says would be enough to ‘break the addiction’.
“Australia is falling even further behind the rest of the world in implementing a sugar tax,” McMullen said.
Source: IANS
Doctors renew calls for an Australian sugar tax
