High-Sugar Food and Beverage Ads Become a Challenge to Control Child Obesity in RI

Illustration of high-sugar food and drink advertisement (doc.unsplash/Javier Molina)

In an effort to reduce child obesity abroad, added Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, there is a tax on sweetened food and drinks or the term sugar tax.

Sugar drink tax, soda tax or sugary drink tax is a tax imposed to reduce the consumption of drinks with added sugar. Beverages subject to soda tax typically include carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.

“There are abroad sugar tax. So there is soft drink taxthen there is tax for potentially dangerous foods (because they are high in sugar),” said Piprim.

In Indonesia, the Ministry of Health once made a slogan, sugar is a new tobacco (sugar is new tobacco). Management has been done but the success is quite low.

“In the past, the Ministry of Health also made a slogan, sugar is a new tobacco, that sugar tobacco that’s new huh. So management has been carried out, but the success, especially compliance, is quite low,” concluded Piprim.

“Because the temptation (food and drink high in sugar) is also very high and I think this requires the help of all parties to deal with it.”