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Fizzy drinks tax 'to cut obesity'

Health experts have called for a 20% tax on sugary drinks, which they claim would reduce the number of overweight or obese people in the UK by 285,000 over the next decade.

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Taxing sugary soft drinks 'undemocratic'

Calls for a 20% tax hike on fizzy drinks have been met with skepticism by Cambridge University clinical biochemistry and medicine professor Sir Stephen O'Rahilly.

Whilst any effective discouragement to the ingestion of sugary beverages would likely have a health benefit on society, taxation of specific foods is likely to be currently politically undeliverable in most democracies.

A workable alternative might be to encourage the major companies to switch to the aggressive promotion and marketing of less harmful versions of their products.

– Sir Stephen O'Rahilly, Cambride University

Read: Fizzy drinks tax 'would reduce obesity'

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Fizzy drinks tax 'to cut obesity'

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