tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880385657699231533.post3439625784691251561..comments2024-01-29T02:09:26.869+00:00Comments on Support for "Trick and Treat": How 'healthy eating' is making us ill: Sugar Tax Proposed - Misleading Comment from IndustryBarry Groveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06248903531869557287noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880385657699231533.post-15295529201337477372013-02-02T17:31:48.773+00:002013-02-02T17:31:48.773+00:00Is obesity really a problem? All the stats are sho...Is obesity really a problem? All the stats are showing that obesity is a declining problem.<br /><br />"Over time, there is little sign of the inexorable rise in obesity that underlies some of the concern about the issue. Rates for children did rise and peak in 2004 but have since fallen and are now no different to what they were in the late 1990s. We also seem to lack decent studies that have looked at why income (or living in a deprived area) might lead to higher risks of obesity." from http://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/2013/01/most-obese-people-are-not-poor<br /><br />All Sustain (a fake charity) are doing is lobbying government to try and get more money sent to their friends the farmers. As you mention rather than sugar in drinks, kids will get sugar from food. It's the same sugar so the only difference is that farmers aren't getting any money when families buy soft drinks.<br /><br />And there no such thing as empty calories or junk calories. Calories are calories are calories how ever they enter a person. What makes people fat is not enough exercise for the number of calories they consume. As for unhealthy eating, again there is no such thing. People can survive and live healthy lives (no medical problems) just by eating pizza. And don't worry about junk food. Again no such thing. Not everyone eats 365 days of the year at McD, it's more a treat. There are more calories consumed at restaurants than at fast food places.<br /><br />And finally taxes. Governments continually fool themselves that imposing taxes will change people's behaviors. Well that's true they do, but always against the government's wishes. For instance, increasing taxes on cigarettes because its so unhealthy tends to cause more smuggling and a drop in tax remittances. A triple whammy - less tax to put towards handling the health problems from smoking, an increased cost in policing, and no change in the health of people who carry on smoking. As for a tax on soda which no one really needs, but which people like to drink, what will they do if they can't buy soft drinks. Will they buy a healthy option instead or will they spend it on. Nope, the elasticity of soft drinks means that people will keep buying it at the increased cost unless the price increases dramatically. A few pence won't make them change their minds, but it's also a few pence less to spend on something else or save.<br /><br />All in all, taxing sugar is stupid. SadButMadLadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836368722377421009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880385657699231533.post-13721558696690727692013-02-02T10:27:50.668+00:002013-02-02T10:27:50.668+00:00Good points, George.
I have never understood why ...Good points, George.<br /><br />I have never understood why food needs to be subsidised. It isn't as though we aren't going to buy it. And a food straight from the farmer or the fisherman has got to be cheaper than 'food' that has been highly processed<br /><br />Although, that said, I suppose as far as the UK is concerned, as we seem much more interested in making our countryside fit for ramblers and golfers, rather than using it to grow food, coupled with the fact that we import over half of all the food we eat, most of that would be too expensive if it were not subsidised.<br /><br />Except that real food, such as butter and lamb from New Zealand, which is about as far away from UK as it is possible to get, is actually cheaper here than locally-produced butter and lamb!<br /><br />Which doesn't make a lot of sense!Barry Groveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06248903531869557287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880385657699231533.post-75525350359044021022013-01-29T18:58:06.268+00:002013-01-29T18:58:06.268+00:00I don't have a problem with kids eating, say, ...I don't have a problem with kids eating, say, fruit and potatoes instead of drinking sodas. If they have diabetes, definitely, or need to lose weight, most likely, they should restrict even these carbs, but will it harm them otherwise?<br />Not if the rest of the diet is supplying animal foods; meat, milk, eggs, fish; and butter. <br />Which is maybe not so likely to be the case these days, unfortunately.<br /><br />Better than a tax on sweeteners as a primary intervention would be a complete and world-wide end to farming and fishing subsidies. Subsidies keep junk calories and oils from grains and soy cheaper than healthier options; fishing subsidies promote the waste of a precious and dwindling resource.<br /><br />New Zealand has shown that a farming and fishing economy can thrive without subsidies.Puddleghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00953398103675945541noreply@blogger.com