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The need for a sugar tax in the UAE
Gulf News
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2/12/2025
Full Story Here: gulfnews.com/1.1566322671146
Sugar kills. There’s a higher tax being imposed on sugary goods in the UAE to help residents live healthier lifestyles.
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00:00
Hello and welcome, my name is Jay from Ofgulfnews, today we're going to be talking about sugar.
00:17
So how much sugar do you have in your bloodstream?
00:22
There's a right amount and there's a wrong and deadly amount.
00:27
And I have the deadly amount, according to my doctor, and I'm very proud of it.
00:32
It's something that is eating me up inside and I haven't shown much progress.
00:41
That's why my doctor, and I'm spilling the beans here to everybody, pumped up my dosage
00:48
from 500 mg to 1000 mg of metformin, that's a diabetes medication.
00:58
My mom is on insulin and my dad died of diabetes medication.
01:04
A friend of mine just had a terrible, terrible stroke, he's a father of four.
01:14
I'm not going to give his name now, but the kids are very young, he's not very old either,
01:25
but he admits that it's his own lifestyle choices that got him to this point.
01:32
He had a stent angioplasty as well, and this was like a few weeks ago.
01:39
So let me just tell you a little bit about what's happening as far as the situation in the UAE is concerned.
01:50
UAE is one of the 50 countries that imposed a sugar tax.
01:56
So from the 1st of January 2020, the list of sugary foods and drinks, as well as electronic
02:10
smoking devices had been expanded following a cabinet decision that was done on the 20th of August.
02:19
Why is this being done?
02:21
I think it's a good decision on the part of the government and an increasing number of
02:26
governments are doing this, because health authorities everywhere are pointing to an unseen addiction.
02:36
That is the sugar addiction.
02:39
And let me just read out to you a couple of stats about how addictive is sugar.
02:46
Some doctors are saying it's the new smoking, and I tend to believe them.
02:55
Sugar is a body-wasting substance that besets modern man.
03:01
Here's what scientists are saying.
03:03
The craving for sugar is seen as harming only the individual, and it's not threatening.
03:12
But the recent data, actually the data going back to 1950, show that sugar has a dreadful effect
03:22
on the human body, as well as society as a whole, because of the cost, the billions
03:29
of dollars that go into diabetes treatment and debilitating heart disease and all that
03:38
comes as a result of the condition.
03:41
There was a comprehensive population study of the UAE, and this is 2017 data, which shows
03:47
70% of Emirati male adults under 30 are already obese and with high prevalence of diabetes.
03:57
Now here's a deadly fact.
04:01
In the whole Middle East and North African region, a whopping 39 million people are diabetics.
04:14
There's an estimate that by 2045, this number is going to spike 110%.
04:26
That reflects the general trend all over the world.
04:32
So here's a bit that I'm going to leave you with.
04:35
An average adult needs no more than 20 grams or about 6 teaspoons of sugar a day.
04:46
And a single can of soda, that's your Coke or Pepsi can, contains 39 grams of sugar.
04:54
So if you're drinking one can of soda, that's more than enough for your day's need of sugar.
05:04
An average UAE resident consumes 103 liters of soft drinks per year.
05:12
And an average adult here consumes 3,000 calories per day.
05:18
So if you want to know, if you want to learn more about this debilitating effects of sugar
05:25
on the human body and to you as an individual and society, the society as a whole, just
05:32
read the story, log on to golfnews.com and have a sweet day.
05:36
Bye!
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