BBC Radio Wales Paper Review and Stories Of Sugar Taxation

On Monday I was up at 5am ready to take part in the BBC Radio Wales newspaper review that would be featured at 6:40am and 7:40am in the morning. The aim of the paper review for those who haven't heard it before, is that the guest, who was me on this occasion, looks through the day's papers and finds interesting/ topical articles to discuss live on air. One article that was on many of the front pages that day and has remained in the headlines since, is the story about the threat of sugar on dental and physiological health, especially of children.

The story that I chose to talk about on the radio was specifically based around dental professionals coming out and saying that excessive sugar consumption is having such a severe effect on children's teeth, that a 20% tax should be considered on sugary snacks and drinks. Whilst although of course I agree with the fact that children shouldn't be having unnecessary fillings and tooth loss as a result of sugar. I think that as far as young children are concerned, little ones don't take themselves to the shop to buy sugary drinks and snacks. So perhaps education over tax might be a better way forward. But tax on sugary drinks and snacks is exactly what some dental care professionals have suggested.

In my opinion we do need to work harder to reduce our daily sugar intake and this was also suggested  recently by the World Health Organisation (2015), but I disagree with the idea of taxing sugary drinks and snacks as a way to control it. As one of the things that I felt that it was important to mention on the radio was that there is a preconceived idea that people with type 1 diabetes have to give up all sugar, completely, for the rest of their lives. But those of us with the type 1 kind of the condition know that because of insulin- diabetes is a condition that involves a balancing act. We inject insulin, but when it's given in too large quantities or absorbed too quickly, then sugar is needed to readdress the balance. One of the best ways that I've found to raise blood glucose levels again is to take on board a sugary drink, followed by a carbohydratey or sugary snack.

(thetimes.co.uk)

So is it right that we should be penalised twice? Once in that we've already got a condition like type 1 diabetes to manage and secondly because to treat the condition we would have to pay potentially 20% more with this possible sugar tax? I'm personally a real fan of the fact that supermarkets are phasing out the sugary shelves that line their tills as we queue to pay, in place of putting healthy snack alternatives such as the Yu! Fruit Chews that I blogged about the other day out instead. Now if fruit and veg could be made cheaper, maybe even subsidised, I wonder how much this might help the sugary problem!