Fat Tax?? WTF Denmark?? WTF in deed.
In today’s news, the sign that the apocalypse may be drawing even closer emerged, as Denmark put into action a new bill that would see the taxation of foods high in saturated fat, like eggs, butter and red meat, in an effort to help reduce incidence of health problems on a national scale.
The true sign that this won’t do much at all is the fact that they didn’t tax processed grains or starches, or even sugar for that matter, and they have more research to show negative implications on health with sugar intake than with any other food group in history.
As outlined in a CBS article HERE, the tax works out to roughly $3.00 for every kilogram of saturated fat, meaning a burger will increase in cost by $0.15. While this will not necessarily curb anyone’s decision to eat these kinds of foods, the hope is that the income will help the health system pay for some of the costs of the disorders a poor lifestyle and diet will cause.
Along a similar vein, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine back in 2009 looked at the effects of taxing high-sugar foods and outlined a plan that would mean taxing sugar per gram or ounce instead of taxing the sales amount, hoping that it would discourage consumption. They also showed that the rate of taxation would have to be redonkulously high to actually curb someone’s consumption. They gave the example of a 1%sugar tax per gram on a can of pop increasing the total cost by 15-20%, which amounts for an increase in cost of roughly 15 cents per can. Not really breaking the bank here. Unless the person was buying cans of pop by the flat and consuming their weight each day in sugar, this won’t stop anyone. The main similarities between what’s happening in Denmark and the recommendations laid out in this article are that a tax will only be beneficial if it actually alters the cost of the food substantially enough to make the person want to change their habits, as is the case for cigarettes and alcohol.
I have to admit, when I hear about this, I was kinda surprised, but then the more I read into it and came to the realisation that this wasn’t a joke, I became as surprised as a kid realising Vader was Luke’s dad.
ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url
Seriously Denmark?? You’re going to tax the sale of foods that are, well, FOOD? and you’re not going to impose a tax on highly processed, refined sugars and carbohydrates? All this is going to do is make people either become obstinate and increase their consumptions of the “bad” foods in an effort to stick it to the Man, or they will reduce their intake and start eating more carbs and sugars in an effort to save a buck. Then you’ll have a whole new problem on your hands as diabetes and obesity become bigger issues.
As proof of this, Scientific American ran an article in 2010 outlining how sugar and refined carbs are the real problem for your heart, not saturated fats. In other words,
have the burger, skip the bun.
They showed that over the last 30 years of being told saturated fats are the devil and that we need to eat more whole grains, the rate of obesity has doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease rates were no different. Sure, cholesterol may be an issue, but there has been no definitive evidence to show that eating high-cholesterol foods can actually increase the level of negative cholesterol within the blood stream. There’s been a lot of studies that show that higher fat diets do increase the “bad” LDL cholesterol, but that they also increase the “good” HDL cholesterol, counterbalancing the effects and actually improving the overall function of the individual by providing templates for many hormones and cellular functions.
That’s a whole lotta bitchslap upside yo’ head, Denmark!!!
While the tax in itself doesn’t equate to a ban, it is a way of government control over the types of foods we are able to access and able to consume. The funny thing is that older versions of our own Food Guides were funded and printed with grants from the Dairy Farmers Association (because, you know, dairy’s an important food group we need to eat each day, right?). No doubt there was an increased need to eat grains when people actually had to work for their living, but since the dawn of computers and sedentary jobs, that level of non-exercise thermogenic activity isn’t there anymore, so the need to make up more than half our daily caloric intake from grains isn’t there either.
A "healthy" balanced diet?
Now I have no problem with a nation taxing specific foods due to their poor-health-promoting qualities, but at least do some research and tax the right foods. Maybe if junk foods like sugar and processed refined carbohydrates were a little more expensive, people wouldn’t reach for them as often, as is the hope with saturated fats. Maybe also look at taxing the trans fats, or removing them from production altogether, seeing as how there is a hyoooge body of evidence to show that they do absolutely nothing beneficial for your health. Sorry for the rant, but come on Denmark, get with the program.