Incoherent policies on sugar and alcohol | Letters

Nutrition expert Jack Winkler on how government departments are contradicting one another, and Trevor McCarthy on minimum unit pricing

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has drawn attention to the lack of “coherence” in current policies on obesity and sugar (Report, 23 January). In fact, government departments are contradicting one another: Defra has recently removed production quotas and minimum prices on sugar beet, leading to more and cheaper UK sugar; Public Health England is driving a programme to reduce sugar in nine categories of mass-market manufactured foods; the Treasury is imposing a tax on soft drinks.

Thus, one arm of government is trying to increase the production of sugar, while another seeks to reduce its consumption. One department is lowering the price of sugar, another raising it. The RCPCH proposes more votes for parents with children. That might work. But a simpler solution would be for different parts of the same administration to talk to one another – joined-up government.
Jack Winkler
Emeritus professor of nutrition policy, London Metropolitan University

Continue reading... January 25, 2018 at 11:30PM