The amount of sugar consumed by children from soft drinks in the UK halved within a year of the sugar tax being introduced, a study has found.
The amount of sugar consumed by children from soft drinks in the UK halved within a year of the sugar tax being introduced, a study has found.
Experts say success soft drinks shows expansion of tax to cover other foods and drinks is a ‘no brainer’
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That's not because the sugar tax was enough.
It's because the drink manufacturers mostly just stopped selling the full sugar versions, which kind of sucks for anyone who hates the taste of artificial sweeteners. Even squash like Robinsons became undrinkable. It tastes like battery acid.
There's only really Coca-Cola left that tastes the same as it did before. Lemon and lime drinks like 7-Up or Sprite almost cover the taste of it, so they'll do in a pinch. Otherwise I just drink water and cider. Apparently alcoholic drinks don't need to tell you how many calories are in them either, so I'll assume it's none and carry on looking confused when I get on the scales.
It's because the drink manufacturers mostly just stopped selling the full sugar versions
Which was a result of the sugar tax. They didn't just suddenly drop the sugar content for no reason.
The sugar tax didn't include artificial sweeteners? That's an oversight. Those things are bad for you in ways that are different from digestable sugars.
They're nowhere near as bad as consuming a huge amount of sugar.
They only cause issues for a vanishingly tiny amount of people that have pre-existing genetic conditions.
That's highly debatable. It's swapping one set of side effects for another, especially when drunk at high volumes.
It's not highly debatable, it's been studied to death. Sweeteners have existed for a long time.
There were rumours they cause cancer, this has been proven false. There were rumours they cause headaches, this has been proven false. There were rumours they cause infertility, this has been proven false. There have been rumours they stimulate your appetite, this likewise has zero scientific backing.
Aspartame, the most common sweetener, does cause issues for people with phenylketonuria, a rare genetic disorder, because it contains stuff they can't metabolise. But so does a long list of foods people eat every day.
Some polyol sweeteners have a mild laxative effect if consumed in very high quantities, but the same is true for stuff like tea, coffee, most fruits, etc.
Sugar is far worse for your health.
Artificial sweeteners were created to fight glycation and allow people with diabetes enjoy sweetness.
And glycation is bad thing.
So now people are avoiding sweet drinks not because they cost too much in taxes, but…because they taste like battery acid.
That’s still achieving the overall goal.
It's still the manufacturers decision to change the product
Totally. Give people options and let the market decide; and people want food that tastes good and has less calories (generally speaking). (I know, overly libertarian/capitalistic)
Most countries have really good sugary drinks (not the US thanks to HFCS), and only a small range of good alternatively sweetened drinks. Fortunately, I agree with you - citrusy drinks work pretty well with artificial sweeteners, but we all know the difficulties colas have faced. Dear god, some are just awful.
I went through a period of trying over half a dozen sugar-free varieties of what the UK calls lemonade (like Sprite) to find a couple that were palatable. Schweppes sugar: great. Schweppes sugar free? oh god. one of the worst.
Give people options and let the market decide
Who do you think is not giving people options? Because it isn't the UK government. They didn't make the drinks illegal. They put a pretty modest tax on them.
So I'm not sure what you want, a law to force Pepsico to sell drinks with sugar in them? Because I think the market wouldn't be deciding there.
I know you have a long history of not reading comments, and this is no exception.
I know you live in the USA, in the heart of capitalism.
The rest of the world doesn't have the product choices the USA does. In some countries, the only diet/sugar-free soft drink commonly available is Diet Coke. Absolutely nothing else. (no Pepsico, etc.)
But whatever. You didn't know coupons existed on the internet a week ago.
Oh look, you took a post I wrote entirely out of context.
I'll fix that for you.
That was in response to this:
Which was a response to this:
In this thread: https://lemmy.world/post/17453467
I'll assume that was an honest mistake and you aren't just trolling and definitely won't get banned like in the many, many other communities you've been banned for trolling people in, so you're welcome.
Edit: I suppose the alternative is you believe in such a thing as an "Artificial Intelligence Supercomputer," but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there.
In fact, the only ones that do tell you seem to be the ones aimed at calorie counters who still want to drink, mostly hard seltzers like WhiteClaw, Truly, etc.
White claw smaller can at 5% is 100-110 calories a can.
I said this in another comment, but trying to find drinks that don't use sweeteners is painful nowadays. I can no longer drink most squashes, and my soft drink options are pretty much limited to coca cola (normal pepsi now has sweeteners), sainsbury's high juice, or rose's lime cordial...