Protecting a poison

NEWS that the government may consider imposing a "sugar tax" on food and drink infused with sugar is most welcome.

Under our many campaigning health ministers, we have banned smoking in public places, are placing relatively onerous new salt limits on food producers, and we are preparing the ground to ban the advertising of alcohol.

Sugar, however, has sailed through all of this unscathed. Yet it is arguably the most lethal of the many toxins we put in our food.

There is growing evidence that sugar is killing South Africans.

We are fat beyond words — the second most obese nation over the age of 50 in the world — and not for nothing does the WHO report warn that "among the dietary factors related to excess body weight, reduction of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages should be a high priority".  READ MORE

Source: BusinessDay Live    #IFAMAFRICA