Health Expert Reveals Why Govt Should Proceed With Beverage Tax

A health expert and public health lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Dr. Francis Fagbule, is advocating that the government should tax sweeten sugar beverages (SSB) over health risks.

Fagbule said in an interview that the drinks have health implications.

The federal government is considering a temporary suspension of the tax on sweetened sugar beverages (SSB) as part of an economic stabilization plan.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, disclosed this when he spoke with the members of the National Action on Sugar Reduction.

However, the health expert said most of the sugar-sweetened beverages essentially condense calories without any nutrition value.

Fagbule said the products contributes significantly to adverse health effects starting from the issue of obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease adding that some type of cancer has been linked to the habitual consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

He said the government should use the tax to make sweetened beverages unaffordable.

Fagbule said, “It the fact that if you take Eba which also contains starch right you cannot in another 15 minute take Akpu because you will be filled so it means that even over consumption of Eba (garri) is almost not possible but for sugar sweetened beverages you can take a bottle now and somebody is passing with energy drink you can also take it and somebody else is coming with fruit juice you can also take it without filling so filled up. This means that the propensity at which people are consuming SSB is a lot higher. Then the other food the Constance sugar.

“Thirdly, SSB contains the most available ready made sugars so you take it into the body is already saturated the blood system and when the body is fighting to be able to store the sycoses problem that is different. From cassava flick, the sugar in cassava flick the body needs energy to break down the energy to get cassava.