Against the sugar craze: sugar tax now!
In hardly any other European country do people consume as much sugar via so-called "soft drinks" as in Germany or Switzerland.
© foodwatch e.V.
According to figures from the market research institute Euromonitor International, recently published by the consumer organization foodwatch, Germany's per capita consumption of sugar via soft drinks in 2016 averaged 26 grams per day or around 9.5 kilograms per year. In a global comparison, this puts Germany in eleventh place, behind countries such as Argentina, Chile, the USA and Mexico. Overall, Germans consume 36 kilograms of sugar per year. In 2016, Swiss citizens consumed around 36.7 kilograms of refined sugar per capita. Disturbing values.
In Europe, only the Netherlands and Slovakia consume more sugar via soft drinks. By way of comparison, sugar consumption via sweets in Germany was 18 grams per day, or around 6.5 kilograms per capita and year.
"The figures show: sweet drinks & co. are a major reason for excessive sugar consumption. And it is precisely this liquid sugar that makes us particularly ill. Instead of continuing to hope that the industry will voluntarily dump a little less sugar into its products, the German Federal Minister of Food, Julia Klöckner, must finally make a Sweet Drinks Tax after the Role model for Great Britain introduce. The introduction has led to a veritable sugar crash on the beverage shelf there."explained Luise Molling from foodwatch. But drinks with sweeteners are not healthy thirst quenchers either. A Sweet Drinks-The tax must therefore include beverages with sugar as well as sweeteners, Molling demanded.
WHO: Main causes for the development of obesity
Sugar-sweetened beverages are considered by the World Health Organization to be one of the main causes of Obesity (obesity) and type 2 diabetes. Currently, around 6.7 million people in Germany suffer from type 2 diabetes and around one in four adults is considered obese. Obesity alone costs Germany around 63 billion euros a year. For example, the WHO recommends a maximum sugar intake of 50 grams per day for an adult woman, ideally even less than 25 grams per day.
The German government is currently working on a "national strategy to reduce sugar, salt and fat in convenience products. Together with the food industry and food retailers, the strategy is to be implemented on a voluntary basis. A round table set up for this purpose with representatives from the food industry and health and consumer organizations met for the third time.
"The sugar craze is costing society dearly: According to figures from the FOPH, the direct and indirect costs of overweight, obesity and diabetes in Switzerland add up to around ten billion Swiss francs. Per year!"
Thomas Schlittler, Editorial Office Blick
Announcements by many manufacturers and retailers to reduce the sugar content in their products voluntarily lowerhave so far had little effect. A recently published foodwatch market study shows: Every second soft drink (in D) is currently sugared over. According to the study, 345 of a total of 600 beverages examined (58 percent) contain more than 50 grams of sugar per liter. This means that the proportion of beverages with excessive sugar content on the German market has increased since an initial Market study by foodwatch practically unchanged in 2016. At that time, the share of beverages with more than 50 grams of sugar per liter was 59 percent.
Foodwatch called on German Food Minister Julia Klöckner to issue a Sweet Drinks-tax based on the British model. In the UK, manufacturers have had to pay a levy on beverages containing more than 50 grams of sugar per liter since April 2018. A higher levy is payable for more than 80 grams. A large number of suppliers, including Lidl, Tesco and Coca-Cola, have therefore significantly reduced the sugar content of their beverages.
To the sugar beverages market study
Text: foodwatch e.V.
Link tips from the editors:
More than twice as much sugar in Swiss soft drinks
Sugar tax in Great Britain shows effect
Switzerland in a sugar rush - secret meeting of sugar opponents
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Sugar - the quantity makes the poison
