Why Is ICMR Calling For Taxing High-fat and Sugary Foods?

A consortium led by India’s premier medical panel is seeking a health tax on foods that are packed with fat, sugar, and salt, along with stricter rules for foods that are aimed at kids.

With obesity rates spiking among adolescents in India, the group led by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition has called for urgent action to improve the food environment for youngsters.

According to statistics, around 12.5 million children aged 5-19 years were found to be morbidly overweight in 2022 - a stark increase from 0.4 million in 1990. The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has also risen from 4 per cent in 1975 to over 18 per cent in 2016. The medical fraternity is also urging a ban on foods that are high in fat – junk and deep-fried snacks, sugar, and salt—in canteens and around educational institutions, as provided in guidelines by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

The consortium has emphasised that tackling the growing epidemic of obesity, which also leads to type 2 diabetes, requires a comprehensive action plan integrating taxation, stricter marketing restrictions on unhealthy foods, improved food labelling, and increased public awareness.

At present, there is no clear health tax policy, as the existing Goods and Services Tax, or GST, does not differentiate between healthy and unhealthy foods.

The consortium has suggested introducing an “additional health tax” of 20–30 per cent on sweets and confectioneries and a 32 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to help curb the incessant sale of unhealthy foods to kids. A revision of taxation of sugar alternatives like non-nutritive and artificial sweeteners—which are at present taxed at the same rate as regular sugar has also been proposed.

According to experts, consuming a diet high in added sugars, like those found in sweetened beverages, candy, baked goods, and sugary cereals, is a major contributing factor in weight gain and chronic health conditions, which include obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

A few reasons why sugar foods can be harmful include:

Added sugars are loaded with sweeteners that are added to foods and beverages to improve taste. A few of these, which include fructose, corn syrup, cane sugar, and agave, not only lead to weight gain due to high calories but also have empty calories. It means they lack nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, and fibre.

Sugary foods significantly raise your blood sugar levels, causing hyperglycemia, which is a highly dangerous condition. Over time, high blood sugar levels can impair normal cell function and promote inflammation, which increases insulin resistance, furthering this destructive cycle. High-sugar diets are also associated with leptin resistance, which increases appetite and contributes to weight gain and excess body fat.

Eating too much added sugar, especially those foods that are packed with a type of sugar known as fructose, significantly increases levels of the hunger-promoting hormone ghrelin while decreasing levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone peptide YY.

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