Among the wars raging in the world the latest is the war on sugar. With research having proven that sugar is largely to blame for the pandemic of obesity and its spinoffs – chronic non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and some cancers – many developed countries are moving to tax foods which contain certain amounts of this ingredient.
A study by the Lancet, published in 2013, revealed that approximately 30 per cent of the world’s population was either overweight or obese. What was worse was that childhood obesity, beginning in children as little as two years old, was also a huge issue.
According to the study which was conducted between 1980 and 2013, the United States has the highest proportion of the world’s obese men, women and children – 13 per cent. Over the period of the study, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents increased by about 50 per cent. However, as time went by they began to see a shift. “While the percentage of people who are either overweight or obese has risen substantially over the last 30 years, there have been marked variations across regions and countries. In developed countries, increases in obesity that began in the 1980s and accelerated from 1992 to 2002 have slowed since 2006. Conversely, in developing countries, where almost two-thirds of the world’s obese people currently live, increases are likely to continue,” the study says. It would appear that globalization did not only bring with it the opening up of the world and the free transfer of capital, goods and services, but the inculcating of bad habits as well.
According to statistics from the US Depart-ment of Agriculture, between 1970 and 2000, sugar consumption in that country climbed every year until it reached its highest level ever. Reports from the World Health Organisation also showed that the data was much the same around the world and that developing countries seemed to be willingly joining the race.
It soon became obvious that copious amounts of money were being spent on what are, in some instances, preventable diseases. Countries and international organisations did not have to do much maths to figure out that less sugar, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle cost far less than doctors and dentists’ visits, medication, hospital stays and operations, and that they could keep some of these diseases at bay. But governments and scientists could not just order companies to change their tried and true recipes which, through having turned millions of people into sugar addicts, were continually boosting their bottom lines. Instead they worked on educating people and showing real examples of how different their lives could be sans sugar and sickness. When that had worked as much as it could they began to attack those very healthy bottom lines with taxes.
To date, at least 17 countries, including France, Mexico and Chile, have added an extra tax on sweetened beverages and in the USA, several cities have also gone that route. Meanwhile, another 11 nations are considering it, according to a recent Reuters report.
As a result, some of the largest food manufacturers in the United States, whose products have become ubiquitous around the world, are beginning to reduce the amount of sugar they add to their food and beverages. Among them are Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé. Although in several cases their sugar reduction plans are long term and stretch out over the next seven to eight years, they are already appealing to consumers with modified advertising. Apart from their ‘light’ and ‘diet’ lines which have been in place for some time now, they are offering smaller drinks/servings, and modified products which they claim have less sugar but taste the same.
While this is all taking time, there is evidence that it is beginning to take root. Sugar substitutes, some of which are cheaper to produce and others of which do not have the same deleterious effect, like Stevia, are now very much in vogue and sugar consumption is steadily falling, particularly in high-income countries like Norway and Canada.
According to Reuters, this is so much the case that word on the world sugar market is that there will be a surplus this year and next year. The European Union, which finally ends all subsidies and caps on exports in October and had plans to become a net exporter of sugar going forward, may have to rethink those plans.
In countries where sugar was once king, not just because of its export value, but because of its history which is linked to the peoples and their struggles, such news is less than sweet. Nevertheless, studies, surveys and trends must be deliberated on and their value weighed to see whether they truly indicate the future path of this commodity. As far as Guyana is concerned, these are other factors that one hopes would be given due consideration when the fate of its ailing sugar industry is finally decided and viable plans are made for the future.
