Podcast Summary
Pauline Scheelbeek, assistant professor in nutritional and environmental epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine joins the BMJ podcast. In the UK, for just over a year, we've been paying the "Soft Drinks Industry Levy" - a tax on sugary beverages intended to reduce our consumption of free sugars. This was introduced on the back of some evidence from other countries that have substantially reduced sugar consumption by changing consumers’ behaviour and by causing manufacturers to change formulations of their products. In the UK high sugar snacks, such as confectionery, cakes, and biscuits make a greater contribution to intakes of free sugars as well as energy than sugar sweetened beverages compared to other countries. What if that tax was extended to all sugary products? What impact would this have on our energy intake, and onto the BMI of the nation? In this episode of the podcast, these matters are thoroughly discussed.
