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So is there study that would have looked into how much of the sugar was just replaced with other sweeteners? Or how much soda consumption itself has changed?
What’s wrong with other sweeteners?
Most sweeteners have their own health risks. Generally probably still better than sugar, but just moving to sweeteners isn’t all sunshine and happiness.
Imagine what would happen if the government actually regulated and restricted sugar.
Great, now all the undernourished kids with poor parents are going to drink water instead and lose weight to dangerously unhealthy levels.
According to The Guardian (same source as this article), the number of children in food poverty in the UK is 4 million. 15% of UK households went hungry in January. Now, soda isn’t the smartest source of calories in a kid’s diet. It’s expensive and low in other nutrients. But kids aren’t always smart. A poor kid thinks “I’m hungry, I have a few pounds, there’s a vending machine, problem solved”. If the soda is too expensive, that doesn’t mean the kid is going to go to Aldi, buy some potatoes, and roast them for a cheap and nutritious meal. They’re a kid! It means they’ll pay more or go without. Which means you’re making the poverty and malnutrition problem worse.
The Health Survey for England 2021 estimates that 25.9% of adults in England are obese and a further 37.9% are overweight but not obese.
The tax only applys to soda. Fruit juces chocolate bars and all the other crap in vending machines is the same tax as always.
While still crappy calories, they are all better than soda. As a % of the carbs is not refined sugar.
