The sugary drinks tax has significant reduced the amount of sugar people are eating and drinking, a study found.
One year after the controversial levy increased the price of sweet drinks, children were consuming 4.8 grams less sugar per day, while adults had an intake that was 10.9g lower.
Most of this drop was due to less sugar from soft drinks – slashing 3g off children’s daily sugar and 5g off that of adults.
However, people are still eating too much sugar overall, the researchers found, and are not meeting UK or World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
Introduced in 2018, experts estimate the soft drinks sugar tax has reduced the number of under-18s having a tooth removed due to decay by 12 per cent (Stock Image)
Sugar-sweetened drinks account for about 30 per cent of the added sugars in diets of children aged one to three and more than half for older teens (File Photo)
The government introduced a two-tier sugar tax on soft drinks in April 2018 to protect children from excessive sugar consumption and tackle childhood obesity.
It added 24p per litre to drinks with the highest sugar content and 18p per litre to those with a lower amount. Zero-sugar and ‘diet’ drinks were unaffected, as were unsweetened juices.
The type of sugars most adults and children in the UK eat too much of are known as ‘free sugars’.
Fizzy drinks are a major source, but other foods with added free sugar include biscuits, chocolate, flavoured yoghurts and breakfast cereal.
Sugar in honey, syrups, fruit juices, vegetable juices and smoothies occurs naturally but also counts as free sugars.
People in the UK have almost four-and-a-half sugary drinks a week on average, including fizzy cola, lemonade, energy drinks and fruit-flavoured drinks, based on the latest available data for 2018 (shown in graphic). Our total was also far higher than the 2.8 drinks recorded in France, 2.7 in Germany and 3.1 drinks a week in Australia
Previous research has linked sugary drinks to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and premature death.
For the new study, in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, experts including from the University of Cambridge and University College London looked at data from 2008 to 2019 to explore sugar trends over time.
Overall, 7,999 adults and 7,656 children were included in the final analysis.
The experts found a drop in sugar consumption after the tax was introduced, and concluded it ‘led to significant reductions in dietary free sugar consumption in children and adults’.
They said the energy people got from free sugar as a percentage of total energy did not change, indicating that calories from free sugar were dropping at the same time as a decline in overall calorie intake.
They said, in children, a daily reduction of 4.8g sugar equates to approximately 19.2 calories out of an approximate daily intake of 2,000 calories which is equivalent to approximately one per cent reduction in energy intake.
While the evidence suggested that sugar intake from sweet drinks fell as a result of the UK’s controversial tax, it wasn’t clear whether people had switched to different, untaxed sources of sugar instead.
The largest single contributor to free sugars in 4-10 year olds is cereal and cereal products, followed by soft drinks and fruit juice.
By the age of 11–18, soft drinks provide the largest single source (29 per cent).
For adults the largest source of free sugars is sugar, preserves, and confectionery, followed by non-alcoholic drinks.
The fall in consumption of free sugars observed in the whole diet rather than just from soft drinks suggests that consumption of free sugar from food was also falling from as early as 2008. This might be because of the public health signalling following the announcement, the researchers suggest.
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain, according to the NHS
• Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and vegetables count
• Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain
• 30 grams of fibre a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole-wheat cereal biscuits, 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread and large baked potato with the skin on
• Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) choosing lower fat and lower sugar options
• Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily)
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consuming in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men a day
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
