Groups of doctors ask for taxes on sugary drinks

The policy statement is the first time the PAA recommends taxes on sweetened beverages, he said.

"I talk all the time with my patients and their families about the harmful effects of sugary drinks on health and the benefits of drinking mostly water and milk." Nevertheless, sugary drinks are a mainstay of the diet. Many children are inexpensive, easy to find, highly marketed and have a sweet taste, so children love them, "said Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and registered dietitian in Carlsbad, California, who was the author main statement of policy statement published in the journal Pediatrics.

"At the same time, pediatricians are diagnosing our young patients with type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, and high cholesterol, which are health problems we have rarely experienced in children," said Muth.

"We have tried, and failed, to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks through education and individual choices," she said. "Just as policy changes were necessary and effective in reducing tobacco and alcohol consumption, we need changes that will help reduce the consumption of sugary drinks in children and adolescents."

The policy statement specifically calls for:

• an excise tax on sweetened beverages;
• federal and state governments to support a reduction in the marketing of sugary drinks to children and adolescents;
• federal nutrition badistance programs to ensure access to healthy foods and discourage the consumption of sugary drinks;
• regulations requiring the inclusion of added sugars on nutrition labels, restaurant menus and advertisements;
• make healthy drinks, like milk and water, the default on children's menus;
• and implementing hospital policies to limit or discourage purchases of sugary drinks.

Among all these policy recommendations, Muth said that an excise tax on sugary drinks presents the greatest number of "proofs and precedents" to have the most impact.

"We know that an increase in prices leads to a decrease in consumption," she said. "We have examples of communities where a sweet tax has already been put in place", such as Mexico and Berkeley, California.

In response to the policy statement, "US beverage companies think there is a better way to reduce the amount of sugar consumed by consumers." This means leaving parents in control to decide what's right best to their children, "said William Dermody, spokesperson. for the American Beverage Association, which represents the non-alcoholic beverage industry, said in a statement.

The badociation says that beverages are not the only factors responsible for obesity rates and obesity-related diseases in the United States because obesity rates have increased while soda consumption rates have decreased.

"We support parents who want less sugar in their children's diets by creating more drinks than ever before with less sugar or sugar, with smaller portions and by supporting efforts to make money." water, milk or juice 100% the default drink restaurants serve meals for children, "he added. "Today, 50% of all drinks sold do not contain sugar, while we aim to reduce the calories consumed by drinks by 20% by 2025."

Efforts to prepare non-alcoholic or milk-based beverages on the children's menu were among the recommendations made in the new policy statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association.

This new statement is inscribed in the wake of a separate study published last week in the journal Circulation, which found a positive link between long-term consumption of sugary drinks and premature death among adults in the United States.

"Most of my work has been devoted to adults and we have shown that in addition to weight gain, regular consumption of sugary drinks was badociated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, Stroke, hypertension, certain cancers and premature deaths, "said Vasanti Malik, a researcher at Harvard TH The Department of Nutrition of the Chan School of Public Health, which does not not participated in the new policy statement but led this separate study.

She also praised the new policy statement.

"I thought the joint statement provided a good summary of some key policy strategies to support a reduction in the consumption of sugary drinks for children and adults," Malik said of the policy statement. "The reason for this call to action is due to strong and consistent evidence linking the consumption of sugary drinks to adverse health effects."