The evidence review shows that action to reduce sugar consumption levels could include, reducing; the volume and number of price promotions at restaurants; the marketing and advertising of high sugar products to children; and the sugar content in and portion size of everyday food and drink products.
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Mr Cameron’s spokesman said he did not think the Prime Minister had read the report.
But a Downing Street spokesman insisted: “The prime minister has been clear that there are more effective ways of tackling this issue than a sugar tax, which is why we are developing a comprehensive strategy looking at all the factors that contribute to a child becoming overweight”.
Nutritionist Susie Burrell said she would “absolutely” love to see a “junk tax” introduced in Australia that goes beyond sugar to cover fast food, confectionary and soft drinks.
Consumers are already acting – admittedly not as quickly as doctors would like – on the message from health crusaders that no good comes from drinking the empty calories of sugar, water and chemicals.
Conservative MP for Northampton South, David Mackintosh, has met with Celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, in Parliament to discuss his campaign to cut sugar in fizzy drinks and improving children’s health.
The report has been the subject of cover-up allegations after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said earlier this month that the study would not be published until January, alongside an anti-obesity strategy.
The report, called Sugar Reduction: The Evidence For Action, warns that average sugar intake is 12 per cent to 15 per cent of people’s energy intake instead of the 5 per cent Government advisers say it should be.
It also suggests consideration of a tax or levy of between 10% and 20% on high sugar products “based on the emerging evidence of the impact of such measures in other countries”.
A long-delayed report on the impact of sugar on England’s public health and economy has finally been published, but the government isn’t planning on doing much with it.
The PHE report said it “would seem logical” that a “sugar tax” of 10% to 20% would lead to a reduction in consumption, though it stressed a few of the evidence on the issue was limited.
The setting of a clear definition for high-sugar foods to aid with actions 1 and 2 above.
It also calls for efforts to “reduce and rebalance” the number and type of price promotions on foods.
Dr Tedstone added that the introduction of a sugar tax would work.
“The point of the tax is to nudge people away from purchasing these things and toward purchasing things that are more consistent with a healthy balanced diet”, she added.
“The fact that people would even be open to a new tax is wonderful”, he adds, before sounding the cautionary note that decision-makers will likely “kick the can down the road” until after the next election to avoid possible public backlash as well as sustained attacks from lobbyists in the food and drinks industry.
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A quarter of the United Kingdom adult population is now said to be obese, with the proportion set to rise to a third by 2030.
