Canberra, June 9th (IANS): Australia’s top medical body has called on the government to introduce a tax on sugary drinks to combat obesity, diabetes and poor health.
In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, the President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Omar Khorshid spoke out in favor of a tax that would reduce the consumption of sugary beverages, Xinhua reported.
“More than 2.4 billion liters of sugary beverages are consumed in Australia each year. That’s enough to fill 960 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” he said.
“Diabetes, obesity and poor vascular health add tremendously to the strain on our health system.”
“Sugary beverages, and especially those with little or no nutritional value, add to this problem. It is time to act.”
A 2019 study published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that 9.1 percent of Australian adults consumed sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian consumes 60 grams or 14 teaspoons of sugar a day.
AMA has proposed increasing the retail price of sugar-sweetened beverages by an average of 20 percent.
According to Khorshid, this corresponds to a recommendation by the World Health Organization and could lead to 16,000 fewer type 2 diabetes, 4,400 fewer heart diseases and 1,100 fewer strokes over a period of 25 years.
“It could save lives and millions of dollars in healthcare costs,” he said.
“It would also generate revenue – we estimate about 814 million Australian dollars (about $ 630 million) per year – that we think could be spent on other preventive health activities.”
