To think it's time to repeal the sugar tax?

It was the sugar tax. Almost overnight it went from being a choice of sugar and sugar free, to now largely having a choice of one or two sugar options and the rest are now ‘Zero’.

I’m more of the view you know where you stand with sugar than sweeteners, and I do hugely resent that choice being limited as I don’t really like the idea of sweeteners (mostly irrationally, I accept!).

For anyone that wants to find sweetener free drinks and we warned of recipe changes, like the one Pepsi sneaked in, I recommend joining a group on Facebook called 'Save our sugar'

I was born in the 1960s so my childhood was in the 60s/70s. My mum cooked everything from scratch. She would make her own custard and rice puddings, egg custards, cakes and jam tarts and sponge puddings. Everything was made with ingredients from the pantry so there was very little processed food.

I didn't have my first McDonald's until I was about 19, as a child I never had pizza, I must have been about 19/20 when I first went to Pizza Hut. There wasn't the fast food places about like there is now, plus we were always out playing, riding bikes and getting lots of exercise.

I think the increase in bowel cancer has more to do with the consumption of red meat. Young people seem to eat a lot of burgers, and as soon as the sun comes out so do the barbecues! Years ago a steak was a rare treat and now people are eating them as regular treats. Just my two’pennorth.

I hate sweetners and the fact they are now in most drinks (of course it's because of the sugar tax!)
On the rare occasion I fancy a fizzy drink I want it to taste as it should, same with squash so full fat coke, fever tree or rocks is about it

I'm another one who disbelieves the (industry funded) research about this issue

That’s not actually true. I saw a doctor on a tv show experimenting with a girl who drank too much sugary fizz. She argued that diet drinks make your blood sugar rise anyway. So he tested her after drinking the sugar drink and her levels rose. Then he got her to drink the sugar free stuff for 24 hours and there was no rise at all. Zilch. Nada. So it’s misinformation and rumour based on no facts at all.

OJ and soda water/Perrier. It's the only way. TBH it was the only way even back when pub lemonade did have sugar in it.

Belvoir lime cordial and soda is also a fool-proof option.

@Allergictoironing yes sweetener is a migraine trigger product for me too

I agree OP but for different reasons

I hate the after taste of sweetener and it has ruined so many drinks for me, even getting a normal G&T now has a sweetener-sweet tonic 😭 in most places

I still buy regular coke every now and then as that is the ONLY soft drink left without sweetener (I think?!)

Even San Pellegrino is betraying me

Hope there is a come back of normal sodas soon

@Citrusandginger Plenty of people drink lots of full-sugar drinks! I see teens drinking can after can of energy drinks and they are packed with sugar. I don’t think the choice of sugar vs sweetener is the limiting factor in how much people drink but whether their palate is accustomed to sweetness. Most sweeteners are actually sweeter than sugar.

However the evidence also shows we cannot moderate our sugar intake.
In the US it's even worse because high corn fructose , of which they've had a glut for many years, is shovelled into everything which is why American chocolate and dessert tastes disgusting to us.
The UK is addicted to sugar and anything to discourage that intake and health consequences should be tried. Artificial sweeteners merely encourage that "sweet tooth" but at least xylitol has ant decay properties.

I don't think we need to repeal the sugar tax. We need to do far, far more than the sugar tax.

The sugar tax got through because corporations had a work around (sweeteners).

We need to do root and branch stuff to address the obesogenic environment. Active transport, poverty reduction, free school meals, cooking classes, the lot. And penalise the fuck out of big food businesses.

Artificial sweeteners, apart from tasting vile IMO, cause me dreadful stomach problems, migraines and even sometimes joint ache. A short while back Pepsi started putting aspartame in their non-diet cola - no notification, nothing to say they had changed the recipe etc. I drank maybe half a glass and was on the loo with a bucket in my hands all night. Pepsi used to be my cola of choice, but not any more! Like many of the drinks I used to enjoy, there's now a stealth addition of these compounds that make me ill.

All the sugar tax has done is make things that people will buy anyway more expensive. Kids don't eat fewer sweets because they cost more, people don't eat less chocolate because of the cost. But people with an intolerance to artificial sweeteners need to check the ingredients list of things that aren't listed as Diet on a regular basis in case they have been changed without notice.

Tooth decay is the number one reason a child in the UK needs a hospital admission.

Children and adults in the UK eat 2 to 3 times the recommended amount of sugar per day.

The average UK child eats 7 times a day.

We are a nation of dysfunctional eaters and cheap,highly processed high sugar , high fat foods is not helping , neither is the culture of continuous grazing.

If ,as a country, we have to foot the bill for bad dietary habits then we should try to discourage consumption and recoup costs.

The years of healthy eating advice is doing nothing, most people only eat 5 portions of veg a day on Christmas Day.

I actually worked on the campaign against the sugar tax.
there is NO evidence that suggests that a sugar tax reduces obesity levels. All evidence cited is very weak (I looked into it extensively).
Sponsor of these studies are often dubious to say the least as well.
The companies did not change the formula of their drinks to reduce sugar because of customer demand. It was simply the sugar tax that forced them into it.
like others have said, moderation is key. I for one think it was an appalling tax that forces us to consume unnatural chemicals.

Why not just give up sweet fizzy drinks altogether?

People thinking that sugar is fine because no one was overweight in the 70s… the generation that were kids in the 70s are now majority overweight adults and health conditions like diabetes are rife. It might not have had a visible impact at the time but it will have had a long term impact, T2DM doesn’t happen overnight. I don’t think sweeteners are good either but the answer needs to be discouraging both sugar and sweeteners, not encouraging one over the other.

Slimming World are totally anti diet juice because it encourages a sweet tooth and leaves people craving actual sugar too.

Or at least that's what I was told years ago when I tried SW. They might actually be on go some thing.

There may be no evidence yet, but, as others have said, it is odd that the 70's generation, of which I am one, we were drinking squash, ribena, nesquick. Putting spoons of sugar on to our sugary chocolatey cereals, spoons of sugar into our tea. Lots of bread. We had proper puddings with meals. Literally no kid was overweight, not one.

It's way more complex than just eating sugary things. It's a holistic lifestyle thing, and focusing just on sugar is simplistic.

Op I'm with you. The aim should be for foods to be as natural as possible.