20% sugar tax on Sugary Drinks - would it stop you buying them?

Serendipitious

I don't buy them now

Never buy sugary drinks like squash. Never buy fruit juices in cartons either. Never buy any fizzy carbonated drinks at all. They all taste extremely artificial. And I would never ever contemplate serving any drink containing sweetener to my grandkids, as to me that's much worse than sugar. Fortunately mine actually like water, milk, and sometimes a cup of milky tea.

So that's one area of the supermarket I never ever have to visit. Added to the cereal aisle and the alcohol area, it cuts out quite a lot of walking round!

Sally_A

I was weaned on full sugar ribena..it was sold for Vit C goodness, other than that most meals were meat and 2 veg, maybe a bit of extra sugar in the baked beans once a week.

I don't believe parents are feeding their children more sugar intentionally or even unwittingly, but they go for the low fat options, which have a higher sugar content.

My suggestion is go back to the original full fat foods, but make sure your kids get excercise, play outdoors, or even better still, do family jobs outdoors.

Alikay

I don't buy them very often, but 20% extra on sugary fizzy drinks won't make a difference to me. They're incredibly cheap anyway (you can get 2 litres of own-brand pop for less than 50p in most supermarkets) so any extra cost won't deter the hardcore pop addicts. An extra tax on pop, and very unhealthy snacks and cereals seems a reasonable way of getting extra revenue, but I expect it would be very expensive to implement and administrate, and you'd probably end up with a few silly anomalies as with the Greggs hot pastie and Jaffa Cake VAT issues, which would be a waste of money to sort out.

Jagraf

I don't buy them now

I'm sure my dad is a genius. He's in his seventies and when we were growing up my mum used to buy all the latest things that were 'good for you'. If he was doing the shopping, he only bought full fat milk, butter, and nothing with artificial stuff in it. He was by no means OTT he just assumed they would be bad for you. He had an allotment and we had barrow fulls of veg and were not allowed indoors if the weather was fine.

He had a very poor upbringing (he was the only income earner from 14 and had to pay for his elderly parents after a shift down the pit).

He still wonders why people have such rubbish in their fridges. To him life is simple, eat a balanced diet and exercise and get fresh air. he likes sugar in tea but figures it's not bad for you in moderation. Some of the time he taklkd rubbish but on this one I think he's right.

Lunar_Eclipse

No, I'll take the "hit"!

GracieP wrote: »

I don't drink them much but when I do it's always the sugary version. I'm well aware of the dangers of sugar but I'll take that any day over the majority of chemical sweetners on the market like aspartame which I avoid completely.

Same.

DD1 can't tolerate sweetners and since she is far from obese and with (touch wood) healthy teeth, I think the occasional indulgence is fine. She's 15, an age where some are drinking alcohol after all.

I don't drink sugary drinks but enjoy fizzy water and the odd diet drink. Despite this, my weight is less healthy than the 3 other sugar consumers in my house.

I understand the medical concerns over sugar consumption and have been shocked at the state of some kids teeth I've seen due to extremely poor diet; sadly I'm not sure the extra tax would change the behaviour of those who need it most.

*Robin*

I don't buy them now

In hindsight, one of the greatest benefits of being very broke while the kids were young was that neither fizzy nor sweetened drinks were part of our diet. If anyone arrived with a can of cola, the older children delighted in using it to show the younger ones what happens when a coin, a piece of meat and a shed baby-tooth is left in a glass of the stuff [separately, that usually finished the can / bottle ] - a very valuable experiment!
Drinks containing aspartame rather than sugar were definitely banned at home too - never mind the long term effects, I didn't want to have to deal with little monsters who were high on the stuff!

Decades later, it's paid off. None of the older kids needed any attention from the dentist until they were in their thirties. The younger ones still have perfect teeth - and none of them have a weight problem.

thorsoak

I don't buy them now

Personally I would, if I ever buy them, go for the drinks which contain SUGAR rather than the sugar-free versions as I feel that there should be more concern about the effects of aspartame and the like on growing children.

HappyMJ

No, I'll take the "hit"!

I love my sugar filled squash. I would not stop buying them at all.

A 20% tax would probably add about 20p to my weekly shop. £10 a year. Not the end of the world.

I put sugar in my coffee/tea and ask for sugar when dining out as a cafe. Would they tax coffee/tea that has sugar in it but no tax on black coffee/tea?

How about a tax on full fat milk at 4% fat that's a very high level of fat. A pint contains 22 grams of fat and 270 calories which is quite a high percentage of the recommended daily allowance of 2,000 for an adult.

Georgiegirl256

No, I'd cut down but not completely

Jagraf wrote: »

I'm sure my dad is a genius. He's in his seventies and when we were growing up my mum used to buy all the latest things that were 'good for you'. If he was doing the shopping, he only bought full fat milk, butter, and nothing with artificial stuff in it. He was by no means OTT he just assumed they would be bad for you. He had an allotment and we had barrow fulls of veg and were not allowed indoors if the weather was fine.

He had a very poor upbringing (he was the only income earner from 14 and had to pay for his elderly parents after a shift down the pit).

He still wonders why people have such rubbish in their fridges. To him life is simple, eat a balanced diet and exercise and get fresh air. he likes sugar in tea but figures it's not bad for you in moderation. Some of the time he taklkd rubbish but on this one I think he's right.

Sounds exactly like my Dad Jagraf! Same ideas, same principles and very similar upbringing. My Dad always used the phrase "it's good for you" too! He once printed out a 4 page document on the dangers/side effects of aspartame.

I'd rather have full sugar than stuff filled with artificial sweeteners, as for the little that we drink it doesn't really matter tbh, and I'd rather have full fat stuff instead of the lower fat stuff. For years, people have thought that full fat products were the enemy, whereas now it seems that a lot of the low fat versions are actually worse for you as they have more sugar (and salt) in to replace the taste that is lost due to the lack of fat.

Personally I don't think taxing sugary pop is going to make any difference whatsoever. People will keep on buying it. What's needed is a total re-education in people's eating and exercise habits.

Mupette

Its parents that need educating in order for them to educate their kids, no point blaming school saying they should do it. In Moderation, not to shut your kids up because you can't be bothered with them, sorry sweetie you wanted em now deal with em.

Now before people start with ripping my head off, its a minority that need this.

If people were taught at school and at home home economics, diy etc perhaps we wouldn't have such a throwaway society as we do now, it's all very well saying i give my kids what they want because i never had it myself as a kid, great that's lovely so when are you gonna grow a pair and become the parent and not their m8.

Treats yes, all the time well go on if you must, its not for me to say you'll make a rod for your own back, wouldn't want to say told you so :rotfl: