Study finds UK sugar reduction policies have been only partially successful

The soft drinks industry levy is a fiscal measure introduced in 2018 that imposes taxes on drinks with sugar content exceeding certain thresholds, incentivising manufacturers to reformulate products to avoid taxes. This policy led to a significant 34.3% reduction in sugar sales from soft drinks from 2015 to 2020, illustrating the effectiveness of mandatory measures in influencing industry behaviour. However, driven by a shift to lower-sugar products and possibly by surrogate marketing to boost high-sugar drink sales, soft drink sales rose by 21.3% from 2015 to 2020.

Announced in the government’s 2016 childhood obesity plan, the sugar reduction programme was a voluntary initiative encouraging companies to reduce sugar content in products by 20% by 2020. The programme covers various food categories, including breakfast cereals, yogurts and confectionery. However, it only achieved a 3.5% reduction in the average sugar content of products, adjusted for sales volume, in retailer- and manufacturer-branded products between 2015 and 2020, highlighting the limitations of voluntary approaches and the need for more stringent measures.

The researchers recommended that the value of the levy be increased in order to encourage more manufacturers to reformulate their products and that the sugar content threshold be reduced to support further reformulation and to seek to address some of the increase in sales. Owing to new evidence on the long-term health concerns of non-sugar sweeteners, the researchers also recommended that these sugar alternatives be included in new policy, following the public health measures of various countries in taxing products. Applying similar fiscal measures to other high-sugar products, such as confectionery and juices, could reduce overall sugar intake more effectively, the researchers suggested. Additionally, they stated that transitioning from voluntary to mandatory targets in the sugar reduction programme would likely yield better results because no company will then be disadvantaged for taking action that its competitors have not.

Public Health England reported that, between 2016 and 2020, dental caries was the most common cause of hospital admissions in children who required general anaesthetic for tooth extractions. The two policies aimed to help mitigate the continuing upward trend of health conditions directly tied to sugar consumption.

The article, titled “Outcomes of sugar reduction policies, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, was published on 1 June 2024 in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

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