Sugar Tax a ‘game-changer’

The Faculty was among the organisations which campaigned for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, which came into force early April and taxes manufacturers 18 pence per litre for drinks with total sugar content above five grams per 100ml, and 24 pence per litre for those above eight grams per 100ml.

A quarter of five year olds have tooth decay, and the latest release of figures by Public Health England shows that tooth extraction remains the number one cause of hospitalisation among five to nine  year olds, with over 35,000 children admitted each year for the procedure and 60,000 school days missed as a result.

A typical 330ml can of fizzy drink contains 35g (nine teaspoons) of sugar, well in excess of the recommended maximum total intakes of 19g a day for four to six year olds, 24g for seven to 10 year olds, and 30g for those aged 11 or over. However, reformulation since the new tax was announced is already estimated to have removed 45 million kilograms of sugar from the UK’s annual drinks consumption, and such has been the desire of firms to avoid it that the Treasury has had to revise down its forecast annual revenue by more than half.