Potentially Introducing a Sugary Drink Tax to New Zealand w/ Dr Rob Beaglehole:Feb, 11 2020

The United Kingdom in 2018 introduced the Soft Drinks Industry Levy colloquially known as ‘the sugar tax’ which places a base rate of tax onto sugary drinks which increases incrementally for each 8  grams per litre of sugar extra found in the drink.

The consumption of sugary drinks in the United Kingdom has decreased by 35% since 2015 which many attribute to the levy.

The New Zealand Dental Association has been closely observing the effects of the levy which they believe is strong evidence for New Zealand to introduce similar legislation - New Zealand suffering from the third highest obesity rate and very high cavity rates.

In this piece I spoke with Dr Rob Beaglehole NZDA spokesperson who is a clinical dentist and the Principal Dental Officer for a regional health board in New Zealand on the UK statistics and why we should introduce similar legislation to the country. 

I started off by asking - 'Why New Zealand should have a Sugary Drink Tax'