Is taxing the fat the only way forward?

you say
"The UK is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. "

2/3 of UK adults are overweight?
Where is this statistic from? Looking around me at other adults it sounds unlikely to me.

The government figures from 2008 (https://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=2450&Pos=&ColRank=2&Rank=800) say More than one in three adults (36.9 per cent) had a BMI considered overweight; a slight decrease from the proportion in 1994 (37.4 per cent).

So it looks like around a third for adults as well. I don't think claiming 2/3 of adults are overweight makes the case very well, since it sounds like sensationalism. I thought Belgium and Northern Ireland had the highest calorie intake anyway.

I think an improved diet would be good, but in the USA the massive increase in obesity has happened during the period where people switched to foods containing lots of fructose, which puts lots of weight on people who are insulin resistant. A lot of the "low fat" foods are full of this stuff. Will the programme cover this issue?

Yes, as this article puts it... the 'Fat' should be taxed heavily for the fatty food they buy.

I am a smoker and hate when people write on these articles how I am costing the UK billions in pounds, despite the fact that it is smokers like me who generate a surplus. Paying more through taxes than what we take out of the NHS. Various sources cite this.

However, the fat (whop also compain about smokers) are quick to do this as well... blaming us for seeping money out of the system.

But it is these obese people who are real drain, they cost the NHS billions and don't put much much back in. They are not a surplus to the nation in anyway. It is about time the media started pointing their guns to real target, and use it's influence make the government slap an 80% tax rate on fast food! Then we'll see how many people remain obese because of their "genes".

Smokers are not the problem, 'fat' people are!!

Even if the figures quoted for obesity levels in the UK are correct, the issue with immediate taxation is that it is too blunt an instrument. I'm not saying it shouldn't be used, but lets look at other potential solutions first.....

For instance, lets have a consistent food labelling scheme that allows a consumer to compare effectively. At present this just isn't possible due to anomalies between food manufacturers and supermarkets.
Once the possibilities of education have been exhausted, then taxation has to be the only available option.

Another solution would be for the EU to get involved and get a harmonised Directive across all countries giving minimum and maximum permissible levels for salt, fat etc. Brussels always seems to release meaningless Directives about the shape of bananas etc so its about time that they did some good.

Ultimately its about people wanting to help themselves - no-one can do it for them. Another solution is to avoid the taxation of the unhealthy food and to tax the treatment of anyone who exposes themselves to diet-related conditions. A bit contentious, but this issue needs resolving.....

Why only go as far as taxing 'junk food'?
In the same way we regulate tobacco and alcohol the country could introduce an age restriction on buying 'junk food'.
This would have a profound effect on many young people, sweets, crisps, sugary soft drinks and suchlike would be immediately removed from easy reach of minors. Oddly it would also have a profound effect on school lunches which would no longer be able to serve anything deep fried.

I think it is a great idea to tax junk food and confectionary. If kids didn't get a taste for the sugar and fat when they are young, then they would be less likely to be obese adults.

On the other side of the calorie in - calorie out equation, there should be a mandatory excercise minimum in schools. This has been shown to be good for both body and brain.

What a load of rubbish it is to think that you can help people by adding an extra tax on anything.
I quit smoking but not because the price went up but because my brother asked me to.
Most people go to fast food restaurants now and then (me included) and thoroughly enjoy the food. Yes, you will always find people who have a need to damage themselves one way or another. No matter what the cost they will keep eating fast, prepared, high fat food.
My Grandparents cooked with lard, saved the bacon fat out of the frying pan to fry other foods later. They ate ham, bacon, eggs, liver and all of the other high fat/cholesterol foods. He was slim, she was a little overweight and they both lived to 86yrs and didn't die from heart attacks.
There is no such thing as 'The Nanny State' as politicians don't care a hoot about your welfare. It is about money. There are people trying to affect public opinion to see how more tax will be accepted. My answer is don't play along, you are being manipulated.

If people are incapable of making informed decisions about their own well being — which clearly a certain percentage are not — instead of fooling around with issue-dodging ideas like a so-called fat tax — which would itself be a bloated mess of administrative apparatus — make these people pay for their healthcare.

On top of which, we know that lumping the price up simply will not act as any kind of deterrent. Just look at petrol and cigarettes, as examples, if you have any doubts. So in addition to alcohol and cigarettes being found in vans searched by the Customs & Excise, expect to find Belgian chocolates as part of the haul.

Only this morning did I read about a woman who has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, yet she continues to smoke. In related news, rickets is making a comeback — not because of depravation, but people aren't eating balanced diets. This was a problem when my dad was a kid as good food was scarce. But today, it's because people simply won't eat wholesome foods.

As a tax payer, I take exception to subsidising stupidity. Make these people pay wholly or a good proportion of the fees for their healthcare and take the burden off everyone else.

Not sure what the correct answer is but if a tax is put on junk food the money raised should be used to subsidise healthy food.
The healthy options are far more expensive than the junk and average options. Even if there was a will to eat more healthily a bigger effort is required to make it more affordable

What are they talking about "introducing" a tax on junk food. There already is one. Go to a fast food Restaurant and the price of a meal there includes tax. But that does not stop anybody.

The only way to go. Fatty food is causing too much of a drain. Smokers pay, why should people that choose to eat junk not have to pay as well? But why not have a double pronged attack and tax the producers? Tax them higher a fat profit tax.
M66hill I cant see Europe getting involved. They dont have the problem and they dont have the same national health service to pick up the pieces.

This is a good idea in theory. Natural foods should be cheaper than processed foods. However "fat" doesnt make you fat, it's only carbs that release insulin in the body enabling fat storage. If the big corporations take the natural fats out of food and put in processed substitutes as well as using sweetners instead of sugar, our food will become a hotpot of chemicals & substitutes. Why not just tax processed foods, making the natural foods cheaper. This will automatically enable those who are on low incomes to bring their children up with a healthy diet full of fresh meats & vegetables rather than with fish fingers & chicken nuggets & chips.

As an overweight chap with Danish friends i feel i have quite an interest in this. on my many visits i too noticed the huge difference in the way food is viewed, sold and consumed in Denmark and even after my first visit many years ago believed that it would be a great idea to do the same over here. the emphasis on fresh healthy food is amazing with a good 80% of supermarkets floor space being taken up with veg, butchers, fishmongers and bakery with tinned, frozen and processed food being more of an afterthought, but it is the Danish attitude to food and exercise that i think makes them a much healthier country rather than the price. In the UK if a tax like this is bought in (which i really hope it is) then there should also be subsidy to local authority gyms and activity centers with a real push to get people to get out and try some thing new.

@3 M66hill

You are right, it will not stop all of them by increasing the amout of tax they pay on their junk food, but it will help towards making them pay their way.

If they did increase the tax to fuel and cigerrette levels I bet it would be the most inactive protest ever. An armchair protest?!?! LOL!

Yes too much fat is bad but it’s not the only problem. As someone else mentioned there are other ingredients that are causing a bigger problem for example fructose and other added sugars usually any product ending in ‘ose’ is sugar. This is causing havoc with our blood sugar levels and insulin is constantly trying to lower the levels in our blood, any that cannot be stored in the muscles is stored as fat, we ate it so our body thinks we need it! The problem with this is the large corporations like Coke Cola and Mc Donald’s are going to try and stop it. Bottom line is they don’t care about our health just a healthy profit. But yeh, tax it, but they need to make sure the money goes to the NHS and not just fat, should be done on sugar content too!

There seems to be a lot of people who think being overweight is caused directly by eating any fatty food. The average amount of fat in the UK diet has decreased considerably since I was a child, yet the percentage of overweight people has gone up.

This is not about eating fried food. "Fast food" is not the problem, it's what kind of food and how much of it. Most fast food is meat, cheese, bread and some small amount of vegetables. How sinister is that? Even the fattiest cheese burgers have a lower fat content than the UK & USA Heart associtations recommend as part of the diet. What's the popular alternative? Low-fat Energy bars full of the wrong sugars.

Everyone seemed to eat chips every day when I was a kid, often fried in lard. How many people were fat then? There was no gym-culture like nowadays either. How many were overweight then? Did you see any joggers?

Look at the diet changes since the 1970s: more low-fat food, more low-fat snacks, more fizzy pop, more pasta. These are the things most likely to be causing the increase in weight.

Many of the ready made "healthy foods" contain lots of fructose, see wikipedia entry (this is 20 year old knowledge): "studies have also linked to the increased amounts of fructose (e.g., in HFCS — high fructose corn syrup, currently the least expensive nutritive sweetener available in industrial quantities); in humans, fructose causes changes in blood lipid profiles, among other things, mostly due to its effects on liver function" "Insulin resistance has certainly risen in step with the increase in sugar consumption and the substantial commercial usage of HFCS since its introduction to the food trades" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance%29

Let's see if the programme just gets "tough" on "fast food" (btw isn't all Chinese food fast? Is that unhealthy then?), rather than addressing the total average diet changes over the last 30 years, which are basically lower-fat, higher-fructose, higher-carbohydrate.

They have no right to decide that I am not responsible enough to look after my own body. Eating junk food occasionally is OK, if they want to tackle obesity with tax then they should tax overweight people more. The government should get out of my life!

Why is it other countries that come up with the good ideas? The UK is way behind the more progressive forward thinking nations.

I agree with 'Tone Control' and other people, clearer labelling and education is the way forward for long term change. Taxing fat is after the horse has bolted. Many low fat foods are laden with fructose or glucose which give a higher sugar fix, high GI, which wear off in about 1 hour leaving you feeling hungry again...and then reach for the nearest snack and so the cycle goes on.

Eating well to maintain blood-sugar levels rather than high peaks caused by high-sugar-fat foods would be a more productive way to manage healthy eating.

education through schools and TV programmes will have far more impact than a tax on junk food. People know junk food is bad...so the question that needs to be addressed is why do they keep eating it?

Regardless of whether a tax would reduce obesity or whether it would patronise individuals, it is first and foremost justified by the healthcare bill the consumption of fatty foods lumps on all taxpayers. The people who cause this spending in the NHS should face the social cost of their actions and foot the bill; after all, in this case it is their choices that lead to the money being spent.

As ever the discussion is based on the false premise that "fat makes you fat" which is not generally true but only true for the special case of trans-fats which make you fat not because they are high in calories but because they are chemical toxins which slow down glucose transport and reduce metabolism. The reduction in metabolism can easily exceed 50% in the worst cases and this "metabolic syndrome" is behind most (90%) of obesity in the UK. The Danes are slimmer because they banned trans fats half a dozen years or so ago. Even NICE are now calling for a ban on trans-fats saying they cause 40,000 deaths a year here in the UK. In my view the minimum figure for deaths is 250,000 per annum when using more realistic figures for CV disease and the other trans-fat conditions such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimers and excess cancers.

Obesity is cureable as shown by the Danish experiment and the interested reader might pre-empt any legislation based on the NICE recommendations by banning trans-fats for himself. Eat only cold-pressed vegetable oils and especially include some hemp or flax oil in his diet. If you are obese the weight loss becomes apparent after about six weeks. I lost seven stones in just eighteen months while quintuppling my calorific intake using just this method. Most weight loss occurs up front so you don't have to wait too long.

Why doesn't the BBC investigate this? Recycling the tired old scams about obesity and diabetes ought to be beneath this once objective and disinterested organisation. It all based on peer reviewed scientific literature. Lets have some truth BBC.

Bring up my children I would have been horrified at the thought of taxing these type of foods, but now being older and wiser, and all we hear ar this cut and that cut, I can see that the extra money would go towards the national health service, and this I agree with in this day and age.

I completely agree that unhealthy foods should be taxed but rather than the money going straight into the government's poorly budgeted pockets, why not use the money to reduce tax on healthy foods to double the impact. We can assume that if a tax is imposed on foods deemed unhealthy, people that eat poorly will then try to buy the least healthy food for their money. For example, someone that would ordinarily buy crisps and chocolates might then just start buying "low fat" products that will generally contain little good in them anyway. This will also make this a more important market for food manufacturers so there will most likely be more and more foods that would just about not be taxable but will also not be any good for you. However, if this tax was used to reduce the cost of healthy food then there would also be a financial incentive to buy more fruit and veg and less processed food in general. The money would also then actually target the problem on two fronts and not allow the government to take their "cut" to be used on getting them out of their bad decisions...

Maybe a contributing factor to Brits eating too much BAD food is because the GOOD food is far too expensive. I buy fresh fruit and veg each week, but that is what seriously pushes up the price of my weekly shop. Small bag of spinach in excess of £1.50? 6 Apples for about the same price? If we do have a fat tax, the extra tax raised should be used to subsidise healthy foods

I see the anti fat brigage are out again. Nasty people. It is not what we eat it is lack of exercise that is a culprit. I know, I am morbidly obese and I do not eat junk food. I eat healthy well balanced meals but do not get enough exercise. I have a full time desk job and I sit making jewellery in the evenings to make ends meet. Too busy trying to pay the mortgage to hit the gym, sorry. Taxing food will not help me.
To the whingers on here, you going to tax people who have sports injuries? How about pregnant woman, they are a massive drain on the NHS too. Why should I pay for someone else to have a baby? It was their choice not mine. Very easy to have a go at someone who is not like you, it is called bigotry. Fact is, diet is only a small reason that people are fat. You need to address the exercise and the emotional side. Often for fat people food is the only thing to look forward to, you take that away what are you going to replace it with?

Good idea. But why keep it to food? Let someone, somewhere decide exactly how we are to live our lives in all other respects. We could, for example, address the problem of sports injuries, which cost us a fortune, by charging £750 for a pair of trainers? What about reducing the billions (obviously) spent on preventing and policing road accidents, together with the cost of providing the medical infrastructure to deal with them, through the simple step of adding £40,000 tax to the average family saloon? Keeping people indoors, because they cannot be trusted when outside, through the simple measure of taxing clothing might work?

It is very obvious that left to their own devices people will carry on in all manner of ways deemed unsuitable by those who know best and who decide for them. What about making the operating costs so high for sweets and crisps manufacturers, fish and chip shops and other fast-food outlets they all go somewhere else?

I am not an expert but I am obese and I would welcome the tax to help me think before I buy. I would also support reviewing advertising on public spaces and specially sport related events (burgers during a World Cup?), remove junk food from the cashier points that is the last step on temptation, add healthy labels to the package (if we have a "5 a day scheme" labels, why not add the opposite one saying "1 a month chocolate/pizza/burger/etc treat!" or like cigarettes packages "this can cause health problems") and regulate sizes.

The tax money could be used to subsidize healthy options, counseling (obesity is a disease!), foment sports activities on the community, etc.

In principal I agree with the idea of a fat tax but there are always exceptions to the rule. I happen to be the parent of a child with Cystic Fibrosis, a relatively common genetic disease which is incurable and life threatening. In an effort to maintain my sons health a high fat, high calorie diet is essential. His diet does not come cheap and we do not get any financial assistance in this regard (neither do we seek any). Issues like this need to be taken into account. A "One Size Fits All" approach cannot be assumed.

Fantastic idea to tax junk food. It would help British farmers as well, because it would mean cheap junk was not undercutting good nourishing foods.

Why don't the Government help our farmers to get a fair price for their produce, dairy products and animals? It is a shame the small amount of money that they receive for very hard work. If we could afford lovely fresh locally grown and reared food people would not be glomming down, supermarket hamburgers, sausages, tinned vegetables and prepared meals containing mystery meat. It costs more to eat fresh foods.
It makes sense to eat food that is sourced locally, keeping the nutritional value and taking care of our own farmers.

"Not sure what the correct answer is but if a tax is put on junk food the money raised should be used to subsidise healthy food.
The healthy options are far more expensive than the junk and average options. Even if there was a will to eat more healthily a bigger effort is required to make it more affordable."

I completely agree - what about subsidising not just fruit and veg, but all basic staples, so that it becomes cheaper to make meals from scratch rather than buying ready meals and processed foods. I am trying hard to bring my child up with healthy home made foods, but financially it is a struggle as the healthy foods - fresh fruit and veg, poultry and fish - are so expensive!

"user wrote:
I see the anti fat brigage are out again. Nasty people. It is not what we eat it is lack of exercise that is a culprit. I know, I am morbidly obese and I do not eat junk food. I eat healthy well balanced meals but do not get enough exercise."

Sorry "user" but the problem is not exercise. Kcal out > kcal in is easier managed from the diet than it is from exercise.
Well balanced meals are great, how about portion size?


To the blog itself, as others have said this should not just be about fat. Claire could be a perfect example of someone that actually eats healthy food, just (possibly) too much of it.

Fast food is not bad for you, a diet that contains too many kcal for your normal expenditure will make you grow, regardless of whether the calories from from fat, carbs or protien.

Yes absolutely tax the fat but why punish fast food suppliers it is the ignorant people who eat so much of it it makes the obese and sick that are costing the tax payer so why not tax them instead of paying them to loose weight. Just like cigarettes and alchohol it wont matter how expensive it is people will still have it, if they were taxed personally and charged to go to hospital or for assistance like mobility scooters that seem to be given to anyone these days not just the elderly and frail but the obese youngsters who are too lazy to walk.

Perhaps if they use the revenue gained from taxing unhealthy foods, to subsidise cheaper foods... then I'd be in favour of it.

Because fruit is expensive these days. I'd be happy to pay a pound extra for my occasional pizza, if it meant I could afford more fresh fruit and veg.

yes fatty foods is one of the reasons why there is an obesity problem in Britain but it if you think about it with a bit more perspective its:
1. british lifestyle 2. british atitude of not being arsed and general atitude 3.shitty weather.

and to be honest i'm not bothered because i don't even live in Britain anymore because of these reasons!

I think it's something that needs to be done. I used to weigh about 23 stone, and now i'm about 15 stone, so when I get told I have to pay for extra legroom on flights, when I have to sit in inadequate over-priced public transport, it's always at the forefront of my mind. With something like this, I think any money accrued should be pumped into services which are currently unfairly priced on weight, regardless of how much the individual weighs. For example, I paid almost 200 euros to bring my bags home from Ibiza this summer (I work as a diving instructor), and they weighed 44kg total. I lost 50kg. Surely I shouldn't have to pay?!

""user wrote:
I see the anti fat brigage are out again. Nasty people. It is not what we eat it is lack of exercise that is a culprit. I know, I am morbidly obese and I do not eat junk food. I eat healthy well balanced meals but do not get enough exercise."

Sorry "user" but the problem is not exercise. Kcal out > kcal in is easier managed from the diet than it is from exercise.
Well balanced meals are great, how about portion size? "

Actually, I disagree with this. I am not overweight, but have studied nutrition and it is possible for people to become overweight and obese by not eating enough. Your body goes into starvation mode and you put on weight despite noit eating enough. Exercise helps to boost the meatbolism, which prevents this emergency storing of weight. So a combination is far more important than just cutting out the calories.

As for the tax - I think it's a good idea. It won't stop those who want to eat, but those who know they have a problem and need added incentive to get away from these foods will find it a blessing in disguise. As with anything taken in excess, you have to want to cut back before you will

Yes the government should bring in a fat tax on those unhealthy foods, hopefully so that our country does'nt end up full of wobbley tubs of lard on legs.

While they are at it, they should use the money raised to build free gyms and bring in laws that everyone has to do 30 mins exercise every day and those that dont get fined.

Then we can have a country full of fit healthy people who wont be a drain on our resource YOU Smith 967454 Winston! get those knees up!

Obviously exercise is important, that goes without saying. The problem will always be there as long is it is financially easier, and quicker, to eat junk food. Fresh produce needs a subsidy fast, until it makes a lot more financial sense for your average "fast food family" to learn how to cook with real ingredients, everyone will still flock to chip shops, kebab shops and tescos for ready meals.

Why not go the whole way. We need food police to make sure we all eat our government decreed 5-a-day. Ration cards so we are not allowed to deviate from the state diet. Mandatory morning exercise periods supervised by the fitness police. We need 'Re-education' lessons for those that exceed the state-BMI levels, and penalties for those who miss these targets.

Really, what utter rubbish. The state needs to report the facts about healthy diets and health issues associated with weight, and then leave it to the individual to decide. I am an adult, I choose what I want to eat. Nanny State leave me alone.

Of course. I don't see how 'bad' food is any different to other 'bad' products such as cigarettes and alcohol which are both rightly taxed. Why can't the government take the bull by the horns and do what needs to be done rather than messing about with expensive educational measures which I'm sure are not as effective.

If the 'fat' people are not taxed, then they should not receive free health care for fat related illnesses. They can't have it both ways!

It's not fair that people who lead healthy lives should pay for those that don't!

is not time we looked at the reason why people are making the choice of the way they eat rather than blaming the choice we have.example the big push to change school diners what happens when kids are off school?go past a macdonalds and you will see and then councils give them 24hours opening why do we need that?kebab shops opening till 5am why?we blame the shops and what they sell but a treat to the takeaway should be that and why should they be made to pay more taxes?the councils in my view do not help with letting takeaway's open in town's and village's when there is enough all ready there and allowing to open all hours

Surely we should start by scrapping the EU's massive sugar subsidises to the big European sugar industries. This is many hundreds of millions of Euros each year (https://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/agriculture-economy.4e8%29. Not only is this a financial as well as a health scandal but it massively undermines the ability of third world countries to grow sugar cane for both their internal and export markets.

I'm overweight and in favour of anything that will help me lose weight.

I'm well educated (a number of degrees) and I've got a well paid job in IT that means I can reasonably afford any food I choose but I'm still overweight (17 stone, 40 inch waist and 18 inch collar) because of poor portion control, snacking and lack of exercise.

At work we have all been issued with pedometers and we receive a payment (a few hundred pounds) at the end of the year via our health insurance if we meet minimum exercise levels. I am however, still getting fatter as I lack the motivation to do even more exercise or the will power to reduce my lard intake. Any external help that may give me my tipping point would be welcomed.

"Should the UK tax high-fat junk food to cut obesity rates?" is the question posed to us by the Panorama preview page.
By this logic, a similar premise for a smoking tax would be; "Should the UK increase cigarette tax to cut prevalence of yellow teeth?"
Eating high levels of fat and actually being fat are epidemiologically distinct in terms of their linkage to the pathologies listed (diabetes and heart disease). People who are fat and active exhibit lower rates of these diseases than those who are thin and inactive. I know its easy to jump on the 'blame fat people' bandwagon but some critical thinking on what are the symptoms and what are the causes of diseases should be the driver behind public policy decisions... not knee-jerk policies that fit our existing social prejudices and norms.

I see lots of complicated economic reasons why Tax would work or not or why people are fat.

The simple reason people are fat, is not because of the food they eat (thats only half the issue), but because people eat more calories than they burn off.

We live in a very lazy society, where the number activity nowadays is brain off TV/computer on.

The majority of overweight/obese people, probably eat no more junk food than you or me, however they just lead a very very lazy lifestyle.

Healthy foods are no more expensive than processed crap, however processed junk is far easier to make than something healthy, in the microwave for 5 mins as opposed to several hours from purchase to finish slaving over a hot oven.

Its sheer bloody minded laziness which is making folk fat not some evil corporation or misfortune of society, or even genetics, just lazy people who cut the first corner they can just so they can watch their favorite TV show and make life slightly easier at the cost of their health and appearance.

Therefore Fat people need to be humiliated into leading better lifestyles I propose a range of measures:

1. Fat people must pay an entrance fee into any Supermarket or food shop.
2. They should pay extra money for flights.
3. Tax only people who are overweight who buy fatty foods.
4. Set up large scale cycle powered power stations and make all fat people work there for 1 hour each day.
5. Make them pay for their own healthcare.
6. Boot camps for the morbidly obese which they must pay for.

I think it is an excellent idea. A higher price on unhealthy foods would probably not stop people buying them, but would hopefully make them into an occasional purchase rather than a staple of people's diets. I don't eat junk food, but I smoke, and the same principle applies - I am actually quite glad of the high price - I know that if cigarettes weren't so expensive, I would probably smoke a lot more.

I agree with other people's comments though, there would have to be a lot of research and careful assessment of which foods are actually unhealthy - a blanket tax on high-fat foods wouldn't make much sense - maybe target food with trans-fats, very high added sugar and fat levels, and other unhealthy additives - some people have mentioned fructose. And subsidising healthy alternatives would be a good idea as well. Would it not be possible to work with, instead of against, companies like macdonalds and coca cola? Encourage them to offer healthier foods which they could sell cheaper than the more fatty sugary options.

Totally agree with a tax on all junk food (including processed meals)or food that nutritionists class as unhealthy. This could pay for subsidies on healthy food such as fruit and veg whose prices seem to be ever going up.

I 100% support this idea.

Fatty food is by no mean the only cause of obesity but its a contributing factor. The same way us drivers pay tax for cars and on fuel for the car to help contribute towards the upkeep of the road network. Fatty foods should be taxed to not only act as a deterrent but to raise more revenue in order to pay for the increased strain on the NHS.

purewhitewave wrote:

Actually, I disagree with this. I am not overweight, but have studied nutrition and it is possible for people to become overweight and obese by not eating enough. Your body goes into starvation mode and you put on weight despite noit eating enough. Exercise helps to boost the meatbolism, which prevents this emergency storing of weight. So a combination is far more important than just cutting out the calories.

-

I will not dispute the notion of storing fat from starvation mode, however are you really telling me that eating too little calories will make you put on weight? How on earth do these girls that starve themselves into anorexia manage to be so thin?!
Where does the body magic the extra weight from?

"Cantankerous wrote:
I'm overweight and in favour of anything that will help me lose weight.

I'm well educated (a number of degrees) and I've got a well paid job in IT that means I can reasonably afford any food I choose..."


The main part here is that you admit to being able to afford to eat what you chose to eat. So making food more expensive (without making it prohibitive) will do nothing for you.
You are an example of 'your own choice' being the issue, not the actual food itself.

This is a brilliant idea especially if the additional tax raised is channeled to the NHS. I don't smoke, drink in moderation, eat healthy food and exercise regularly. Maybe people like me should recieve a rebate on our NI contributions.

I'd also like to see airlines charging more for overweight passingers, as is happening in the US. After all we have to pay excess baggage if our luggage is overweight.

Why is taxation the only answer to everything in this country? Where would the extra revenue go?

come on, think of a new way to manage things other than just whacking up the prices on everything.

If you tax food with high fat and sugar content, you may find a reduction in the amount of people who are overweight but I think you'll also find that a correlation develops between people who are overweight and people with lots of money. Any solution by means of taxing will have a greater effect on people with less money.

My body mass index is perfect. I don't want to be taxed for buying junk food when I eat it responsibly.

Great quote from a Danish man in the article:

Lars Moerck and Karina Kirkefeldt have both struggled with obesity in the past.
At his heaviest Lars jokes that he had the belly of "an English hooligan".
Having both lost substantial amounts of weight, neither of them wants their children to have the same problems.
"We ruin ourselves and somebody has to take action. So if we can't do it, then the government should make health for the people," said Karina."

I'm not saying everyone is incapable of losing the weight themselves, but there are a lot of people who are.

clairepagan wrote: "Often for fat people food is the only thing to look forward to, you take that away what are you going to replace it with?"

Nobody is proposing to take your food away from you - the government isn't trying to impose rationing or a starvation tax.

clairepagan also wrote: "I have a full time desk job and I sit making jewellery in the evenings to make ends meet. Too busy trying to pay the mortgage to hit the gym, sorry"

You don't need to go to the gym - frankly, i think paying for your exercise is a waste of money. Maybe try cycling to work - it's cheaper than driving or taking public transport, is often quicker, and would also help you get fitter. I'm a student, living on a student loan, which believe me is not a lot of money - and the money I save by cycling instead of taking the tube, I can use on buying nicer, healthier food.

Often people only need to make a few small adjustments to their lifestyle in order to be healthier, and tackle obesity if it is an issue for them. A tax would just nudge people in the direction of these changes

It has long been realised that the most powerful methods of behaviour modification involve peer pressure. Taxing smoking did little to change habits, taxing junk food will change little.

Making smoking 'socially unacceptable' has worked wonders, people are not afraid to speak out against smokers and request they don't do it. The same should be proposed for fat people. Make it socially unacceptable to be fat and stop trying to accomodate them and it will soon begin to change. Stop selling clothes for sizes over 16 in 'normal' shops (and tax them heavily), enforce rules regarding paying more to fly if overwight (I get charged £20 per kilo excess baggage, why don't fat people get charged more?).

It might be unpleasant but it would have an effect.

I'm afraid there is a problem with all of this and that problem is this is an issue of choice rather than the issue of health or wealth.

What we are doing now is issuing that those people who cannot look out for themselves should be taxed for their choice of eating food, and that healthy foods should be cheaper so that they can enjoy a healthy and long lifestyle.

My question is who are you to tell me what I should and should not enjoy? I am an adult and I have the right to choose what I put in to my body. I do not drink, nor do I smoke; in that regard I am what is known as “straight edged”. To this end, however, I cannot tell another person not to put those things in to their bodies, that it is their choice at the end of the day. I can voice my opinion that I disagree with them, but I cannot STOP them. At the end of the day I have to trust them; it is their bodies, they know the risks, let them do what they enjoy.

I WANT to go to a KFC when I want some chicken, I WANT to have that slice of cake after a meal. The people who WANT these foods are not the people asking for this tax, it is those who want to scrounge up money from somewhere or those who don't want the cake anyway.

Why am I being punished because YOU don't want to eat cake?

Taxing high calorie foods and giving a tax break to low calorie food is trying to alter how we conduct ourselves. It is a blunt, rusty, tool to try and raise money and take away yet another freedom that we are happily giving to them. Besides, who is making this choice for me? I am not a prisoner who is being given a strict diet; I’m a law abiding, taxpaying citizen of this country, why are my personal freedoms being subjected to this?

One person wrote above that they want the tax to help them diet. If you want to spend more money on food so you buy less of it, go to Waitrose. That way you’re doing what you want and I’m getting what I want. I’m sorry that you are unable to find a solution to a situation you don’t want to be in, but because you don’t wish to be there doesn’t mean I should have to pay a tax for it. I hope you become happy, but I don’t want it at the cost of my right to choose. I am overweight myself, but I don't mind, I just hope you find a weight you can be happy with.

For decades those who have been heavier have been hit with an abuse stick and for the most part people tend not to care; it is something preventable or changeable. It is something that not only can be changed, but should be because you are a "lazy, ugly, fat lump". That's not the point, the point is that they have been hurt and this is just one more stick to give to the lynch mob. It is just another thing to point at and shout "they should be shunned, they are different". They are not different, they just have more to them; they’re still human. It was done with smokers for their “disgusting habit” and now it is being done to others who decide to eat what they want.

And before anyone points out about the BMI, it was created by a Belgian mathematician who had little, VERY LITTLE, in the way of medical training some 200 years ago. Weight is not a good barometer of health, it is a barometer of mass and that’s really about it. A thin person who doesn’t exercise is less healthy than a fat person who does. Science, not 200 year old math, has proved this. A bodybuilder will have the same BMI as an overweight computer programmer, and an actor. Did you know according to the BMI Russell Crowe and Gorge Clooney are obese?

From a purely fiscal point of view, rather than a humanitarian one, let us run a short thought game; what happens next. The country has shot itself in the foot trying to push for the smoking ban as a lot of the revenue for the NHS came from, you guessed it, the tax gained from cigarettes. They banned them, and raised tax even higher than ever before so it became harder for people to afford them. What happened next?

Cigarettes stopped being bought, and now they lost a lot of revenue from that. Now they need something else; people are enjoying other things, like cake for example. Let’s put a tax on cakes so that all those people who buy cakes will be giving the government lots of money! What happens next?

People stop buying cake, again not for the moral or health choices but because the government made it impossible to enjoy. That stops bringing in finance, what’s next to put a tax on? Will they turn to football, because it’s bad for the nation because of the hooliganism and the fact it draws in millions upon millions of pounds in capital? Or horror movies because they are violent and should be kept out of the reach of those who don’t have the mental fortitude to make a choice for themselves? What will fall under the hammer of “it isn’t good for you, so we’ll tax it”? So tell me, what happens next?

To sum up this should not be a financial, or health, question. This should be a question of choice and saying anything else is nonsense. I look at the side of a pack of chips and see all the nutritional choices on the side or the big red warning label on a slice of cake; I don’t care I want the cake. I am a grown man able to make my own decisions and have my own morality to boot. I do not need someone else coming in to my house and saying that I am a fat man and because of that I should be handing over my money for things that people who don’t want my cake think is a good idea. Bully for you, get out of my house and let me eat my cake in peace. You are not my mother, so stop trying to be it.

My health should not be the government’s to mandate; especially considering they are relying upon an outdated method of testing a person’s health with a child’s bar-graph to tell me if I am healthy or not. We are not in a country that makes sure everyone falls within a particular parameter when it comes to health, or rather the appearance of health, so why are they saying I should?

My choices should not be the government’s to mandate; my choices are hurting no one but me and that’s fine. I know the risks, I know the problems that might occur, I realize what might go on and I do not care. What I do in my spare time is what I do; I hold down a job, I rent a house; I contribute to society LIKE ALL PEOPLE DO. Saying a fat person doesn’t contribute to society is ill conceived, as they still pay all the same taxes as skinny people, so unless the thin people aren’t paying taxes they contribute just like everyone else.

You don’t want to eat your slice of cake? Fine with me I’ll have your slice; just don’t make it that every bite that I take is taxed some self righteous, ill-informed health maniac. I want these things, that is my choice and in a country that calls itself free that is how it should be. Stop trying to take away my choices, and allow me to enjoy myself in a way that isn’t hurting anyone but me. Really the same could be said for spelunking, MMORPGs or rock concerts.

Let them eat cake. Please.

the problem lies with the supermarkets and the processed food producers. Walk into any large supermarket and you are instantly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rubbish that is on display. Add to this the fact that food labeling is deliberately misleading. Now add the fact that most people have little interest in what they eat and get conflicting advice every day about what is or isn't good for them. If you were going to produce a food production/delivery system for your citizens that was designed to fail, this is it. The government could fix a lot of the food/health issues by sorting out the manufacturers and the suppliers, ask yourselves why they dont so it?

As for the NHS it should be scrapped and replaced by compulsory health insurance. The govt could put a safety net in for those that couldn't afford it via the welfare system. Why should i pay taxes to support the NHS to provide support for some fat slob who cant be bothered to get off his backside and look after his body. Anotehr one the govt could fix but wont, why not?

Companies pay to advertise because advertising works therefore add health warnings onto the end of advertisements for unhealthy foods, and stop the advertising of certain foods and drinks altogether.

Also work to promote healthy food and lifestyles. We need holistic education that addresses all the needs of young people. Every child should be taught in school to grow it, cook it and eat it.

Similarly from culture body issues need to be addressed. Low self-esteem leads to obesity. We live in a world that worships success and beauty, which most of us by our own standards fail at.

There are other issues, jobs where we sit all day long, the use of the car when people could walk, working too much and exercising too little, fear of crime keeping people in their homes and more

Tax on fat is a one hit wonder when a holistic programme is required.

I think that if it were well regulated then this could be a very effective measure.
Many studies have been done to find out whether taxation decreases the amount people smoke and drink and has been found to be one of the most successful measures.
When I say regulated, I mean things like low-fat versions, or diet version should be significantly cheaper (or less taxed) than their equivalent full-fat version.

In the Tesco I work in (and presumably all the others), Diet Irn Bru costs £1.00 whereas the regular stuff is £0.78. This is pretty much a year round trend on Irn Bru which is the most sold 500ml soft-drink in Scotland. There needs to at least be some regulation to stop this kind of thing.

Why more tax? How about not charging VAT on fresh fruit and vegetables? Unfortunately it's much cheaper to buy an unhealthy ready meal than to cook a similar meal fresh...

"Richard Smart wrote:
If you tax food with high fat and sugar content, you may find a reduction in the amount of people who are overweight but I think you'll also find that a correlation develops between people who are overweight and people with lots of money. Any solution by means of taxing will have a greater effect on people with less money"

I used to go to school with a Rich Smart!

Anyway, unfortunately you only have to look at "smart price" food or places like Iceland. Have a look at the amount of cheap food you can buy. For the majority it is on a par or worse than maccy d's, yet cheaper (per meal per person).

It may also be salient to point out that a tax on junk food is not comparable to a tax on cigarettes. Only those who smoke are affected by a higher price on cigarettes whereas everyone would be affected by a tax on junk food. I am not overweight but regularly enjoy fast food takeaways, which are perfectly acceptable in moderation.

Also, does anyone trust the conservative government to just tax 'junk food' or will we wake up one day suddenly surprised that everything except fruit and veg is taxed heavily?

And what constitues junk food? By many standards, a normal McDonalds meal would not be considered 'unhealthy'.

AOD, perhaps we could round up all the fat people in each village or town and put them in stocks once a day, would give us a double whammy, a bit of ritual humiliation and some enjoyment for the rest of us. Mind you we'd have to watch what we threw at them as they'd probably eat it.

As a moderatley obese (if such a condition exists) male I have to admit I do like the idea of a tax of this sort. In fact I support any of the kind of tax against which one could hang the tag "anti-social".
Its not a huge leap of faith to understand that we react to incentives - smoking, drinking, driving (although here you have the incentive structure all wrong as we use cash generated from tax to make it easier to drive in rush hour, removing the biggest incentive for travelling less in this period - wasting huge amounts of time).
I do however offer this with some caution. If once more we see any extra tax disappear off into a black hole without supporting the cause it is supposed to support we would be pursuing a lost cause, just look at the countless green taxes in the past.

Syonide srote: "Stop trying to take away my choices, and allow me to enjoy myself in a way that isn’t hurting anyone but me"

The whole point of introducing this tax is that you ARE potentially hurting, or rather affecting, other people.

I pay a huge tax on my cigarettes because in making the choice to smoke them, I am exposing myself to a higher risk of lung and throat cancer, and other respiratory problems, which means I am more likely to need to use the NHS, and therefore cost more to society, than a non-smoker.

By consuming large amounts of cake, as you boast about in your post, you are increasing your chances of getting diabetes, heart and circulatory problems and other weight-related health issues. It seems selfish to ignore this and refuse to pay more in order to counterbalance the fact that you will probably cost more to the NHS, and therefore taxpayers, than someone who eats more healthily.

does anyone know if can I tag people in my posts that are replies to their posts?

Well done the Danes for addressing this critical issue, but as usual this Country’s politicians and policy makers are too frightened of the PC media to confront our Nation’s obesity crisis.

I am a Physiotherapist and my partner is a Paediatrician, so we are well placed to experience and understand the direct medical consequences of obesity; these range from musculoskeletal/mobility problems to more terminal conditions which include diabetes and cancer. The evidence is irrefutable; obesity increases morbidity and therefore sucks resources out of our precious NHS.

What’s so exasperating is that the stigma of being fat has been removed. We should all accept that genetic differences will predispose our population to a variety of body types, all of which should be healthy. However, when it’s required we also need to confront the signs of over-indulgence and a lack of self-control which result in obesity.

But here is where the problem lies, because we are not allowed to tell people that they are fat…even when this condition costs us billions of pounds per year! For example, when my partner tried to tell a patient that her medical problems stemmed from her gross obesity, the patient lodged a formal complaint against her and she was professionally reprimanded; is this not an example of the PC madness which is crippling our country?!

We understand that sedentary lifestyles and low self-esteem promote the condition, but ultimately we are in charge of our own bodies. Sadly it is clear that the population is not capable of managing its own health, so the government must step in to curb the consumption of “junk” foods. Financial incentives and education are its only effective tools, and people need to be taught that healthy food can be cheaper and tastier than its processed counterpart. If we allow this current dietary abuse to continue then the nation’s waistline may well burst its own Health Service.

Not only should junk food attract tax but it is time all foods carried a small tax. A small amount of tax across all foods would raise billions for the country and hardly effect retail prices. Supermarkets are adding mark ups of a minimum 42% and up to and over 50%., if they absorb some of the tax it would have virtually no effect on the average food bill and even if it did it may mean people thought a little longer about what they bought and help reduce food waste

Why is it more expensive to live on a healthy diet? To a large extent because supermarkets see healthy eating as a pursuit of the affluent middle classes, and so feel able to charge more.

(The same is true of vegetarianism, not that I mean to equate the two. Given the inefficiencies necessarily involved in raising livestock, it seems amazing that meat is generally the cheaper option.)

The situation is self-reinforcing, and should be remedied. If that is at the cost of regulation and/or tax changes, then so be it.

I think if a tax were introduced then it might be a better idea to use the extra revenue generated to subsidise healthier options such as fruit and veg. I think part of the problem lies with the expense of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains etc... in comparison to fat/sugar/salt rich 'value' foods.

It would also be a better idea to look at opening basic free/cheap gyms. Given the British climate it is hard to motivate people to get outdoors for exercise and gym membership is very costly to most people. If it is the case that obesity costs £32bn a year then this is more or less a year's gym membership for everyone in the UK. So perhaps it's worth investing in?

I think as long as the government are responsible for healthcare they are responsible for encouraging people through whatever means necessary to take care of their health.

Money really is the steering wheel of society. I can attest that as soon as my local supermarket dropped prices so that fresh vegetables such as carrots were cheaper than the 1kg pre-packed option, they have been out of fresh veg. Nobody is interested in packaged food when fresh food is cheaper.

I made a resolution to try cooking things from scratch, I've always been able to do it but usually I just cop-out and get easy oven stuff that you just lash in and ignore for an hour until its done. I bought all the ingredients, which seemed expensive at first, but then I realised I actually had 5 (huge) portions of potato curry that had cost about £4.50 Maximum. Similarly I made a beef mince stew for £4 that covered 4 sizeable portions. Double the size of any ready meal I can buy in the shop and half the price of it too.

I think as soon as people click that junk food is costing them tonnes more than a healthy option, they will switch.

I think it would be exceptionally unrealistic to expect the reatilers to absorb any taxes as most operate with a small bottom line margin, and lets be honest are completely accounatable to the City. Assuming that the consumer would feel the hit, this would have an obvious impact on inflation (which is already higher than we would like)

Personally I think this is insanity.
PEOPLE OF ENGLAND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN LIVES AND THOSE OF YOUR KIDS.
IF YOU OR THEY ARE FAT, WHY SHOULD THE REST OF US HAVE TO PAY TO ENJOY A FEW LUXURY'S BECAUSE YOU ALL CANT DECIDE WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, INSTEAD THEY ARE OUT THERE BEGGING FOR HELP.
HELP YOUR SELF, EAT LESS AND EXERCISE MORE.
I HAVE A 3 YR OLD SON AND 2 OTHER BOYS BOTH DISABLED AND NEED WALKING FRAMES TO WALK, AND THEY LOVE JUNK FOOD AT THE WEEKEND, BUT ALSO COME FOR A 2 MILE WALK 3 TIMES A WEEK WITH ME THEIR MUM AND THE DOG, THEY BOTH ENJOY THEMSELVES AND GET EXERCISE. THIS IS HOW A RESPONSIBLE PARENT HANDLES OBESITY, NOT BY WANTING SOME ONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU. WE ARE A LAZY NATION AND INSTEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT TAXING SOME OF THE LAST THINGS LEFT TO ENJOY, WHY ARE PARENTS NOT TAKING THEIR KIDS TO THE PARK, OR SWIMMING, OR JUST FOR A WALK TO LOOK FOR BUGS OR FLOWERS.

EVERYONE WILL SOON BE MOANING AGAIN "OH THE GOVERNMENT TRY TO CONTROL EVERYTHING AND THAT WE ARE A NANNIED STATE." IS IT ANY WONDER WHEN KNOW ONE SEEMS TO BE ABLE TO LOOK AFTER THEMSELVES ANY MORE OR TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THERE OWN ACTIONS.

JUST ONE LAST IDEA, THERE IS AN AGE RESTRICTION ON ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS, SO IF JUNK FOOD IS IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS THIS, PUT A WEIGHT RESTRICTION ON JUNK FOOD, IF YOU ARE OVER SAID WEIGHT THEN YOU MUST PAY EXTRA TAX ON IT TO HELP TOWARDS THE EXTRA NHS COST THAT THEY ARE CREATING.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association, among other things, works with restaurants to look at including different portion sizes and healthier options on their menu. Eating out should be a fun and pleasurable experience. By taking small steps like these, restaurants can also play their part in tackling obesity.

Working in health care I am very confident that taxing would help. Fruit juice (which contains the same amount of sugar as regular pop!), fatty foods - biscuits,ready meals,chicken and chips from fast foods (£2.50 for half a chicken and chips cannot be right!) should all be heavily taxed. Fruit, vegetables, pulses and good quality sustainable meat and fish should be drastically cut in price.

I suppose the conservatives with all of their millionaires don't have to worry they can afford high quality food. Eating has become a cheap form of enjoyment/treat for many, the wealthy can afford other 'treats'!

When I was young the fear of being picked on, or being the last person selected in the sports teams was motive enough to keep most kids weights to reasonable levels.
Unfortunately the PC brigade have tried to make fat acceptable - reigning in health professionals who use the words 'fat' or 'overweight' when talking to such individuals. We shy away from telling kids they're overweight until they are totally obese. Then it's too late - they're unable to exercise and have lost self-esteem. It's popular now to blame big corporations like McDonalds or the sugar council or society's 'lack of opportunities to get out doing things', or 'poor education' rather than the simple lack of willpower of many people to look after their own or their kids' health and appearance.

Personally I think the main problem in the UK is lack of education on how to eat well. I’m young enough to remember my time at school (22) and didn’t receive one lesson on how to eat healthily. I had one or two lessons when I was younger on how to bake sugary cakes and that’s it. How can you cook healthy meals if you don’t know how to? As dumb as this might sound but I know people who are unable to boil an egg.

If you were in the situation where you’re unable to cook for yourself and given the choice between going hungry or a microwave meal it’s a no brainer. If the parents do not understand nutrition then neither will the child thus the obesity circle continues.

This idea stinks of a quick and easy show of interest to “help” the population out with the added benefit of taxation rather than a permanent solution.

I'm with WarwickGatesWhite. We've gone PC mad! When I was at Primary School (OK, we are talking 25 years ago) it was a real stigma to be fat, there was only one child in a year of 30 that was even remotely overweight. Now I'm not saying that we should be going around calling peoople 'fatty', 'blobby' or similar but we have created a culture where it's completely acceptable to be overweight - the average clothes size for a woman was 12, then 14 now 16. The average is moving up and so is our tolerance - I'm sure there are many people out there convincing themselves that they are average and therefore don't have a problem, they're obviously kidding themselves and justifying it by the notion that they are not bigger than average.

one problem in uk is we are bombarded by sweets/chocolate and the size of them has increased. If you are out and about it is so easy to pick up a chocolate bar but not so easy to get a healthy snack.If you go into a shop to buy a paper or card you are usually asked do you want to buy the special offer chocolate bar.Definatley taxing could help and large shops need to be dicouraged from making these offers

"rene147 wrote:
Personally I think the main problem in the UK is lack of education on how to eat well. I’m young enough to remember my time at school (22) and didn’t receive one lesson on how to eat healthily."

Rene, not sure if this is all schools but my 5 year old is being taught about healthy food. He is taught that there are good and bad foods but bad foods do not need to be avoided. He comes home telling me lots of sensible things about food including that we shouldn't have maccy d's at the weekend as it should only be an occasional meal.

Personally the idea of taxing "fatty" foods is ridiculous! This seems just like an excuse for the government to punish the country into paying more un-necassary taxes simpkly becasue 2/3 of people are overweight, what about the other 1/3 are they going to have to fill in a form to prove they are the correct weight so that they can claim back the tax they are owed when buying the occassional treat. Taxing "fast foods" is never going to irradicate or help the obesity problem becasue i honestly dont think people are bothered about how much the food costs when they want to buy it.

"Junk" food is usually the cheapest as well, so you want to target tax at the poor ? I dont suspect there are any plans to tax truffles & fois gras ?

The goverment should certainly tax junk food, and use the money from this to subsidise accessible healthy food in the most deprived areas.

A tax on being fat? Too late. There already is one. Overweight women get paid less well than their thinner counterparts doing the same jobs. Men aren't treated as badly, though.Hmm. Fat people pay more for clothes, are seen as fair game for public abuse, and die younger, thereby reducing the 'strain' on tax payers. It's cheaper to buy the things that are horrible for you than the simpler, more healty and nutritious foods. If you're already on a limited budget because your bum is big, then you have to spend less somewhere,so you buy processed foods that make your bum even bigger. Stop the round a bout, I'd like to get off please. Britain is going the way of America, and this is not an area you want to follow on. More cars equal less exercise. More fear mongering over children being snatched equals parents keeping their ever expanding progeny inside on the X-Box rather than out playing. Oh and Ragb, youre fat, not simple minded. You know full well you don't need to eat cream cakes very often. If you depend on a package label to tell you that, you have an entirely different set of problems. Sedentary lifestyles, poor education on healthy eating, eating out instead of cooking at home, and the intrinsic unhealthiness of commercial food all contribute. Tax fast food and high fat, high sugar foods if you wish. Use the money to make fruit and veg more affordable. Use it to make public transportation better so people walk a bit more instead of driving. But don't for a second think it's ok to harass fat people. Trust me, we have enough other problems.

Maybe twice a year I get a hankering for potato chips but at $3-$5/bag it's hard to justify. So usually i just look at them in the grocery isle and imagine their taste and move on. It works.

I think this debate/article is missing a fundamental point - one of the reasons that fast food is cheap in the first place is a combination of agricultural subsidies and industrial meat production techniques.

Removing agricultural subsidies would increase the cost of products automatically and reflect the truer costs of producing this food, bringing it line with healthier food options. Isn't it odd that less processed food is more expensive?

An obesity tax will penalise the symptom without addressing the structural problem.

The junk food industry hires a lot of people. Will Britain really do this in such a down economy? Think of all the farmers, manufacturing processors, truck drivers, store personnel you'd be affecting. Besides, when people are frustrated they eat a lot more junk food.

@purewhitewave "I am not overweight, but have studied nutrition and it is possible for people to become overweight and obese by not eating enough. Your body goes into starvation mode and you put on weight despite noit eating enough."

That's not entirely correct though. You can't put on weight by not eating enough. That would be violating several rules of physics. You can't create something from nothing. What DOES happen in "starvation mode" is that your body slows your metabolic rate down (mainly through down-regulation of hormones and a reduction of muscle mass). This means that when you do start to eat a higher amount of calories, these will be stored as fat since your body no longer requires so many calories to function anymore i.e. the caloric threshold over which your body will store fat is reduced.

Anyway, tax fat people, not fat food...

If the government really cared about the affects of junk food on a growing population they would ban processed food industries but they won't because they need the tax that it generates. They know that most people eat junk food so its a good place to generate more money. The government shouldn't speak from both sides of their mouth. If they don't want people to eat junk food then don't supply it. If people really miss a bag of chips, they can make chips fresh at home which is more hassle than its worth. Problem solved!

What an amazing bunch of responses, this is obviously quite a "Hot" topic. The arguement "Should junk food be taxed" can of course be countered easily by saying "Healthy food should be cheaper" There have been various comparisons to the "Smoking ban" and the "We are increasing tax on tobbaco products"

Our goverment say that this has been a success because the sale of tobbaco products in the UK has fallen, what they refuse to put into the equation is the product bought outside the UK. I smoke and have not purchased tobbaco in this country for over two years, I buy it when on holiday and when I travel for work, my circle of friends in the main smoke and they do the same thing. So all that happens is that the tax revenue goes to other countries and tobbaconist shops in the UK go out of business. But the true figures about smoking are not reported because they are not known.If they cared they would ban it full stop,all the people who want smoking banned can of course make up the tax deficit. mind you the Americans tried that with alcohol and I seem to recall that was a bit of a no go in the end.

What I want to know is what is going to be taxed? Is it burgers? chocolate? sugar? the deadly trans faaaaaaat!!! Come on grow up we all know this will be a total lash up. I recall as no doubt many others do the goverment used to sponsore adverts such as "Go to work on an egg" and Maggie Thatcher had death threats over stealing our kids milk. We are now told by the current mob that eggs are bad and milk will make our heads explode or some other rubbish.

Why do poeple who are intelligent enough to get on this blog and voice very concise and well written opinions think, that the goverment who know about as much about healthy eating as I do about how to fill in an expense form, are going to do anything that actualy has an effect to be desired. Please do not suggest they will follow the advise of "Experts" because as we know from the "Legal high" drugs fiasco that if the experts do not say what is wanted they get the sack.

I am not sure what the answer is to this problem and; have to say I am not truly convinced it is as bad as we are told by the doom and gloom body, when I drop my nine year old step daughter off at school I do not see huge numbers of fat kids wobbling around puffing and panting. I just see the normal mix of kids that I would expect, running,jumping, skipping and hopping.

Last point, if we are all so fat why are there always complaints about "Super models" giving us all wasting diesese because we are copying them, and teenage girls are dropping like flies trying to be thin?

I'm from New Hampshire, USA. We always had sin taxes. NH does not tax income or purchases. It gets money for police and schools from real estate taxes. Then it taxes liquor, tobacco, gasoline, restaurants, and motels. That way the locals would live easier and the vacationers would pay the taxes (and the "sinners"). Taking this principle a step further, tax the junk food. Not only do the obese pay for what will most likely be their own burden on society later, they have incentive to buy something healthy.
I also believe caffeine is a culprit here. It's not as obvious because it works earlier in the cycle, but it drives the mania that causes the desperation that creates the cravings.
I'm 260 lbs, so don't think I'm being self-righteous. The best diet I ever ate was when I was live-in care for a fragile diabetic and got her diet for free but had to pay for anything extra. I lost weight and was better for it but I just don't have the in-your-hand incentive to put the junk food down when it's cheaper than fresh veggies.
Yes on the fatfood tax!

I think some people are missing the point here. What the tax will do is raise prices for fast foods not because the government wants to butt in and tell you what to do and eat etc etc. It is designed to get people who are obese and thus require special care from th NHs through pure impudence to eat themselves to an early grave to contribute to the NHS.

As someone above has mentioned, the stigma for being fat has been removed. All these "celebrities" who are big are considered heroes in England. Why? Kerry Katona and Fern and Charlotte Church. They were over weight and there was no doubt about it and yet they were applauded. Martine Mccutcheon is advertising a dietary yogurt...have you seen how chunky she is. We are sending out a message saying that being fat is ok. It isnt because with being fat come all sorts of risks, conversely it is the same with being too thin. Its a slow grave that we are digging for ourselves and we must let the government do what they have to. They imposed smoking bans and taxes when people complained about smokers. They raised taxes for alcohol when people complained. However fat foods are still cheaper to buy than healthier options.

As someone said, its not genetics and it isnt a disease. Its people being lazy. Also people really have to remember that you cant compare smoking and fast foods. Smoking is addictive whereas fast food is just lazy. I bet freshly cooked food tastes better than a Mcdonalds burger yet people dont want to cook. Its not because they cant or there isnt enough education around. Think of all of ramseys shows and all of the other cooking shows. No excuse

"The government shouldn't speak from both sides of their mouth. If they don't want people to eat junk food then don't supply it.

Yeah, personal reponsibility is so over rated. Let's just live in a nanny state (or should that be nanny-er?). Then we can all complain about that some more too...

Great, they bring in somking for years and make a fortune on the taxes for that one and now after allowing numerous fast food stores to open and people becoming obese! they will put tax the food...who's the bright spark behind this one!!! make the stores etc introduce lower calorie/healthier foods instead of punishing the public...This tax will not cover the important issues regarding obesity at all and will just go in the governments pockets for them to squander...

I see alot of blogs mention education. I'm overweight and I can cite you protein/fat/carb/fiber contents of hundreds of foods. It's when I'm so hungry I'd kill that I overeat (and you should thank me for killing myself instead of the other guy).
This is a real problem; it's not about laziness, greed, or gluttony. There's a burden of fear, anger, deceit, drugs in food, lies in propaganda, mother-love, etc in there: things a person cannot just ignore. Saying to yourself rationally: "Oh, this is 'bad' for me" isn't sufficient. I actually dissociate when I try to diet. Another person takes over my body, stuff herself, then hands me back. I'm not dangerous - just don't get between me and the ice-cream cake.

I am British, but have just relocated to the Netherlands. I see hardly any obese people here. Most people keep fit by cycling and eat healthly. In the UK there is a colour scheme in food labelling so you can see what foods have a high fat content, there are lots of books also on how to lead a healthy life style, so why is there still a high percentage of obese people in the UK? You cannot blame it on the fact that your family has a low income, as processed food like pizzas and microwave meals normally cost more than fresh healthy food. Fruit and veg from the market is cheap! There is not so much info contained in food labelling in the Netherlands, yet everyone is so slim! Nearly all the children cycle to school! I have never seen an obese kid on a bike yet. I agree that there should be a fat tax, people listen to the their pocket, so yes through money you can change peoples habits..... it is the only way people will listen. I read once that a council paid people a few hundred pound too lose weigh over a period of months, and guess what the weight loss programme was heavily oversubscribed. If the UK goverment introduce a tax, it must be clear where this money is going, it should be used to create more cycle paths and encourage people to cycle to work or the local shops.... Why does the UK government not look at how and why the Dutch lead a healthy life style....

re taxing junk food : Stop making it. We will always buy it if it is there. Be radical change food production totally.

I am almost certain that I am repeating this but I just cannot get passed it: Tax the fat? How about making healthier foods easier to get? Am I simply being too naive? Having recently taken a huge reduction in my income, I am painfully aware of how much more it costs me to eat 'healthier'. Whilst I cannot challenge the potential contributions the additional tax earnings may raise - I feel this is an empty gesture.

Taxing what fat people eat will not change poor eating habits. Taxing the foods that fat people eat most of the time, penalises thin people who buy the same foods occasionally. Taxing the clothes fat people buy only affects fat people.

Having XL and bigger sizes priced 50% more that 'normal' sizes and displayed in 'Obese' and 'Morbidly Obese' departments in clothing areas would encourage fat people to eat less and move more.

Even better, make 'obese' clothes available only on prescription. This sends the message home and monitors the health of obese people.

For those in employment, do what the French do. All employees have an annual health check. If you are overweight, you get a sick note and can't return to work until you lose the excess. Hence you rarely see fat people of working age in France.