Mexico tax sugar drinks, coca cola pissed off

[mr friendly guy]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-11/m ... ks/4949842

The Mexican government is to fight growing rates of diabetes and bulging waist lines with a tax on sugary drinks.

Coca-Cola and other soft drink makers in Mexico have responded angrily to the plan, saying it will have little effect on the country's health and weight problems.

Mexico leads the world in soft drink consumption, drinking 163 litres of sweetened drinks per person annually.

Mexico also leads the world with the highest prevalence of diabetes in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) with 10.8 per cent of the population suffering from the disease.

The country also rates highly for obesity, with almost a third of the population found by a national survey last year to be obese.

President Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed to make Mexicans pay 8 cents extra for every litre of sweetened drinks in an effort to improve the nation's figures.

But Coca-Cola Mexico has argued that "a tax on beverages is ineffective to combat a problem as complex as obesity".

"To change behaviours effectively, we need to ensure people understand that all calories count, regardless of the source - and that includes our caloric beverages too," the company said.

The Mexican Association of Soda Makers argued that the special tax would "not resolve the obesity problem" while harming sugar cane producers as well as the poorest consumers in a country where 45 per cent of its 118 million people live in poverty.

The tax would at best reduce the calorie intake of Mexicans by just 1.1 per cent on average, the association said.

I will try and post a comment when I get back from work.

[fgalkin]

" as well as the poorest consumers in a country where 45 per cent of its 118 million people live in poverty."

I thought poor people not being able to afford soda was the point?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Sea Skimmer]

But soda is a precious luxury for the poor! This could ignite a revolution!

Ironically the only soda I want to buy anymore is Mexican, because all the glass bottled coke you can get in the US now is bottled in Mexico and thus made with real sugar. I don't care about corn syrup one way or another, it just tastes better.

[tim31]

In Australia, you pay around $3 for a 20oz soda and around $20 for a 30 pack of cigarettes.

Socialised healthcare has to pay for all those heart attacks and palliative care for terminal cancer patients, so it makes sense. Hasn't really knocked the trends on the head much.

[Lagmonster]

Not a bad start; I'm all in favour of a luxury tax for just about damn near everything that isn't reasonably an essential foodstuff.

Aside: I was raised at a time when nobody gave a crap about soda, but drinking beer would make you FAT! So we were told that drinking soda instead of alcohol as adults was a good idea for a trim waistline. Has the general consensus moved away from the idea of the 'beer gut'?

[madd0ct0r]

sadly, beer still makes you fat.

[salm]

sadly, beer still makes you fat.

As far as I know it´s not the beer itself that makes you fat. It´s the fact that alcohol induces appetite. Many Alcoholics are rather thin.
Also, the body requires resources to get rid of the alcohol. But while the body is busy getting rid of the alcohol it has no resources to get rid of fat. So if you eat while drunk more fat will be stored in fat cells than normally would be the case.

On the other hand, if you "eat" 4 beers for dinner every day and don´t eat real food you will lose weight.

[PeZook]

Beer is not just alcohol. It's very caloric and kind of like liquid bread.

[Borgholio]

Wasn't beer used AS food in ancient times, since it was a superior way of storing "bread" than actually storing bread?

[Vendetta]

Most fermented drinks arose because they store the thing they're made out of longer than storing it alone. Grain won't keep as long as beer, apples won't keep as long as cider, grapes won't keep as long as wine, etc.

[PeZook]

The tarahumara perfected the art of using beer because they needed people fuel.

[Thanas]

sadly, beer still makes you fat.

As far as I know it´s not the beer itself that makes you fat. It´s the fact that alcohol induces appetite. Many Alcoholics are rather thin.
Also, the body requires resources to get rid of the alcohol. But while the body is busy getting rid of the alcohol it has no resources to get rid of fat. So if you eat while drunk more fat will be stored in fat cells than normally would be the case.

On the other hand, if you "eat" 4 beers for dinner every day and don´t eat real food you will lose weight.

Salm is correct, this is what I got taught in high school and in university.

Wasn't beer used AS food in ancient times, since it was a superior way of storing "bread" than actually storing bread?

This is a myth.

[Borgholio]

Is it a myth? I always thought that beer was an important supplement to the diet of the ancient civilizations as far as calories, nutrients, and sanitary water?

[Thanas]

The liquid bread thing is a myth. As to the other part it depends on what kind of civilization, what kind of beer etc.

[Elaro]

You know, I agree with coca-cola on this one. 8 cent per litre is not going to make people stop drinking soda. Half a buck, on the other hand...

[Terralthra]

The average can of soda and the average can of beer have approximately the same number of calories - 150 kcals.