Sugar tax is WORKING: Britons' consumption of sugar has dropped by a teaspoon a day since tax on sweetened drinks was launched

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Britons’ consumption of sugar in drinks has dropped by more than a teaspoon per person each day due to the ‘sugar tax’, a major study has found.

Since 2015 the sugar in soft drinks sold in the UK has dropped by 30 per cent – equivalent to a daily reduction of 4.6g per person.

That is the equivalent of cutting out more than one teaspoon of sugar each day. The Oxford University researchers behind the study credited the soft drinks levy for the reduction.

Since 2015 the sugar in soft drinks sold in the UK has dropped by 30 per cent – equivalent to a daily reduction of 4.6g per person (file image)

This policy places a levy of 24p per litre on drinks containing more than 8g of sugar per 100ml, and 18p per litre on drinks containing between 5g and 8g per 100ml. The tax, announced by David Cameron’s government in 2016 and brought in by Theresa May in 2018, saw many companies reduce the amount of sugar in their drinks to dodge the levy.

The researchers said 73 per cent of the reduction has been driven by this ‘reformulation’ or the introduction of new low-sugar drinks, and 27 per cent is due to changes in purchasing behaviour.

Lead researcher Lauren Bandy, whose findings are published in the BMC Medicine journal, called the sugar reduction ‘encouraging’. She also said the changes were ‘likely’ to be due to a combination of Government action, changes in marketing by the drinks industry, and ‘greater awareness of the harms caused by sugary drinks among consumers’.

The researchers assessed the sugar in fizzy drinks, squash, juice, energy drinks, sports drinks and bottled water on sale at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda from 2015 to 2018.

They combined this with industry sales data from the same period to calculate the total sugar sold in soft drinks. The biggest soft drink companies were found to have responded to the levy – with eight out of the top ten companies reducing the sugar in their products by 15 per cent or more.

Coca-Cola – the biggest company – reduced the total sugar content of its drinks by 17 per cent by pushing sales of its ‘Diet’ and ‘Zero’ brand

Coca-Cola – the biggest company – reduced the total sugar content of its drinks by 17 per cent by pushing sales of its ‘Diet’ and ‘Zero’ brands.

Experts welcomed the success of the soft drinks levy – but said food has not seen the same reduction in sugar content. They said this is because sugar in cereals and snacks is subject to a voluntary agreement with the industry, rather than legal enforcement as with the drinks levy.

Public Health England data showed the Government’s flagship childhood obesity strategy – which was meant to see sugar in sweet treats slashed by 20 per cent before 2020 – had resulted only in a 2.9 per cent drop.

Alarmingly, the nation’s overall consumption of sugar has actually risen by 2.6 per cent since 2015, as many foods are not covered by the voluntary scheme.

Gavin Partington, director general British Soft Drinks Association. said: 'The soft drinks industry has long led the way in calorie and sugar reduction.

'Between spring 2012 and spring 2016, prior to the announcement of the soft drinks industry levy, UK soft drinks manufacturers cut sugar from their products by 15.6 per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel data.

'Nevertheless we recognise that the levy did lead to parts of the sector moving further and faster on sugar reduction.

'However, we are yet to see evidence that the sugar reduction in our category has had any impact on levels of obesity.'