The need for a sugar tax in the UAE

Gulf News

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.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome, my name is Jay from Ofgulfnews, today we're going to be talking about sugar.

00:17So how much sugar do you have in your bloodstream?

00:22There's a right amount and there's a wrong and deadly amount.

00:27And I have the deadly amount, according to my doctor, and I'm very proud of it.

00:32It's something that is eating me up inside and I haven't shown much progress.

00:41That's why my doctor, and I'm spilling the beans here to everybody, pumped up my dosage

00:48from 500 mg to 1000 mg of metformin, that's a diabetes medication.

00:58My mom is on insulin and my dad died of diabetes medication.

01:04A friend of mine just had a terrible, terrible stroke, he's a father of four.

01:14I'm not going to give his name now, but the kids are very young, he's not very old either,

01:25but he admits that it's his own lifestyle choices that got him to this point.

01:32He had a stent angioplasty as well, and this was like a few weeks ago.

01:39So let me just tell you a little bit about what's happening as far as the situation in the UAE is concerned.

01:50UAE is one of the 50 countries that imposed a sugar tax.

01:56So from the 1st of January 2020, the list of sugary foods and drinks, as well as electronic

02:10smoking devices had been expanded following a cabinet decision that was done on the 20th of August.

02:19Why is this being done?

02:21I think it's a good decision on the part of the government and an increasing number of

02:26governments are doing this, because health authorities everywhere are pointing to an unseen addiction.

02:36That is the sugar addiction.

02:39And let me just read out to you a couple of stats about how addictive is sugar.

02:46Some doctors are saying it's the new smoking, and I tend to believe them.

02:55Sugar is a body-wasting substance that besets modern man.

03:01Here's what scientists are saying.

03:03The craving for sugar is seen as harming only the individual, and it's not threatening.

03:12But the recent data, actually the data going back to 1950, show that sugar has a dreadful effect

03:22on the human body, as well as society as a whole, because of the cost, the billions

03:29of dollars that go into diabetes treatment and debilitating heart disease and all that

03:38comes as a result of the condition.

03:41There was a comprehensive population study of the UAE, and this is 2017 data, which shows

03:4770% of Emirati male adults under 30 are already obese and with high prevalence of diabetes.

03:57Now here's a deadly fact.

04:01In the whole Middle East and North African region, a whopping 39 million people are diabetics.

04:14There's an estimate that by 2045, this number is going to spike 110%.

04:26That reflects the general trend all over the world.

04:32So here's a bit that I'm going to leave you with.

04:35An average adult needs no more than 20 grams or about 6 teaspoons of sugar a day.

04:46And a single can of soda, that's your Coke or Pepsi can, contains 39 grams of sugar.

04:54So if you're drinking one can of soda, that's more than enough for your day's need of sugar.

05:04An average UAE resident consumes 103 liters of soft drinks per year.

05:12And an average adult here consumes 3,000 calories per day.

05:18So if you want to know, if you want to learn more about this debilitating effects of sugar

05:25on the human body and to you as an individual and society, the society as a whole, just

05:32read the story, log on to golfnews.com and have a sweet day.

05:36Bye!

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