Conscience Voiceover: Do you really want that?
Tatenda Chibika, Reporter: That sweet sugary beverage, yeah?
Conscience Voiceover: Do you know excessive sugar consumption is actually quite bad for you? It can contribute to a lot of health issues like… oh well, go on then, fine, if that’s what you really want, take a swig. Honestly, what’s the point of even having a conscience if you’re not gonna listen?
TATENDA: Alright, a lot of us enjoy a can of soft drink from time to time but we know they’re not that good for us.
Conscience Voiceover: Uh yes that’s actually what I was about to say before I was rudely interrupt-
TATENDA: For example, a can of cola contains around 39 grams of sugar that’s nearly 10 teaspoons and almost double the recommended sugar intake for kids.
But a lot of kids continue to drink them along with adults. According to the Australian Medical Association, Aussies drink about 2.4 billion litres of sugary drinks every year, which is enough to fill almost a thousand Olympic sized pools.
While sugar naturally occurs in all sorts of things like fruits, veggies and dairy, those things also have nutrients in them like fibre, minerals, protein and calcium. But the sugar in here doesn’t have any of those nutritional benefits and according to health experts, too much of it can lead to some serious health problems like tooth decay, obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It’s why the AMA wants the government to make sugary drinks more expensive.
Dr Danielle McMullen, AMA President: The AMA is asking the government to put a small tax on sugary beverages, so things like soft drinks and energy drinks, to help Australians make healthier choices at the checkout, at the supermarket and encourage them to drink water instead.
The AMA is proposing a tax of 50 cents for every 100 grams of sugar in a drink and that would raise the price of a 375ml can of soft drink by about 20 cents. More than 100 countries already have a tax on sweetened drinks, including Mexico, France, Chile, Hungary, South Africa and the UK.
Dr Danielle McMullen, AMA President: It’s so strange that Australia is so far behind the rest of the world on this. There’s more than 130 other countries or parts of countries that already have a sugar tax. So, we’re being left behind by the rest of the world and it’s time to catch up.
Some argue it should be up to individuals to decide what’s right for their health and that we should be educating people about healthy choices rather than charging them. But the AMA says it’s not about telling people what to do, it’s about stopping health issues before they happen.
Dr Danielle McMullen, AMA President: Let’s keep people healthy to start with so that we’ve got fewer people who need to be in our hospitals. Something like a sugar tax helps keep people healthier, reduces how many strokes and heart attacks we need to treat, how much diabetes we might need to treat, and then opens up those doors for other people who also need that health care.
And they reckon the tax will also push companies to put less sugar in their drinks. The sugar tax isn’t actually a thing yet and we don’t know if it ever will be. But, for now, we’ll have to rely on or conscience to tell us to make healthy choices.
Conscience Voiceover: About time. Are you going to clean that? Tatenda? Tatenda?