Sugar | TableDebates

Image credit: Hernán García Crespo, ‘Refrescos’, Flickr, Creative commons licence

Is trade liberalisation a vector for the spread of sugar-sweetened beverages? A cross-national longitudinal analysis of 44 low- and middle-income countries

Concerns about the links between trade and investment agreements and the spread of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have seen increasing scholarly attention in the past years. Reviewing 44 low- and middle-income countries over 13 years, this paper aims to provide a generalizable analysis of how trade and investment liberalisation has affected the growth in sales of SSBs, contributing to the evidence base on how international trade impacts health.

Nestlé intends to cut sugar in chocolate by 40% by 2018

A new patent by Nestlé scientists promises a reduction in sugar content in their chocolate and confectionary within years.

Photo credit: Dean Hochman, Flickr, Creative Commons License 2.0

The UK tax on sugary soft drinks is effective even before it has been applied

This short blog by Michael Hallsworth from the UK’s Behavioural Insight Team, discusses the early impacts of the upcoming soft drinks levy by the UK government. This levy aims to reduce sugar intakes from drinks.

World Health Organisation says sugary soft drinks should be taxed worldwide to address obesity epidemic

Sugar tax could sweeten a market failure

This column in Nature by Adam Briggs, public-health researcher at the University of Oxford, discusses the new UK sugar tax which the FCRN wrote about in our last newsletter.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies' verdict on a sugary drink tax – article in The Lancet correspondence

In this correspondence article in The Lancet researchers from Universities of Oxford and Cambridge analyse the conclusions of the Green budget report. The Green budget is an annual report published by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), ICAEW and the Nuffield foundation, which considers the issues and challenges facing the UK as its Government sets the country’s budget for the coming financial year.

The State of Sustainable Markets: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2015

This report by a partnership comprising the International Trade Centre, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture and the International Institute for Sustainable Development summarises the recent market trends and growth in voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), for nine commodities.

Public Health England phone app helps parents assess sugar content in food

This BBC News – Health article describes the new smartphone app that has been released by Public Health England (PHE) as part of its Change4Life advertising campaign. The app allows the user to scan the bar-codes of over 75,000 food and drink items and be told how much sugar the item contains, either as sugar cubes or grams.

Article discussing the implementation of a soda tax in Mexico

This article in the UK newspaper, the Guardian, tells the story of how Mexico implemented its soda tax in 2014, the political debates that surrounded the decision and the lobbying efforts and reactions of the country’s powerful soda industry.