Report: Sugary drink tax could prevent 3.7m obesity cases by 2025
Taxing sugary drinks in the UK could prevent 3.7 million cases of obesity in the UK over the next decade, according to a report from Cancer Research UK and the UK Health Forum.
The charities calculated that a 20% tax on sugary drinks could reduce obesity rates in the UK by 5% by 2025 which is equal to 3.7 million fewer obese people - the combined populations of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol and Leicester.
The report also predicts that a sugar tax could save the NHS about £10 million in healthcare and social care costs in 2025 alone.
Several charities and high-profile campaigners, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, are calling for a sugar tax as part of a range of measures to cut obesity and the amount of sugar in children's diets.
The figures will increase pressure on the Government over its strategy on childhood obesity, which is due to be published in the next few weeks.
Cancer Research UK is calling for a tax on sugary drinks, a ban on junk food adverts on TV before the 9pm watershed, and new targets for reducing the amount of fat and sugar in food.
A third of 10 to 11-year-olds and more than a fifth of four to five-year-olds in England are overweight or obese.
The main sources of sugar include soft drinks, table sugar, confectionery, fruit juice, biscuits, buns, cakes, pastries and puddings and breakfast cereals.
Soft drinks (excluding fruit juice) are the largest single source of sugar for children aged 11 to 18. They provide 29% of daily sugar intake, on average, for this age group.
Gavin Partington, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: "The hypothetical claims made in this modelling study run contrary to real-world evidence.
"In fact, the soft drinks tax in Mexico has reduced average calorie intake by six calories per person, per day with no evidence that it has reduced levels of obesity."