The president of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dr. Kingsley Pereku says there should be a policy to tax sugar-sweetened beverages in the country.
This he says is to aid the development of the country as the high consumption of such beverages is posing high-cost damages to human health, households, and the country’s health care system.
He stated that “sugar-sweetened beverage is a reality on us and it’s really killing us and we need to avoid it at all cost. The danger of it is high. The cost implication to the household is high and the cost of healthcare is very high and so to aid our development there should be a point to possibly tax sugar-sweetened beverages.”
Dr. Kingsley Pereku was contributing to a discussion on ATLANTIC WAVE on the Effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on humans.
He noted that rather than health workers waiting for patients to come in with health implications of consuming such beverages, they should begin public advocacy on its effects on the human system.
He indicated that his outfit has taken the lead in this course and hence to further advance this fight, all stakeholders especially government and health personnel must work collaboratively to address this problem.
On his part, Dr. Kasim Abdulai, a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Cape Coast said limiting the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is crucial for lowering the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in the nation.
He said about 80% of non-communicable diseases in the country are associated with the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
“Sugar-containing substances or food are quite addictive… in our part of the world, we are realizing now high or increase in non-communicable diseases. And this coincides with the high consumption of these kinds of foods. So it means that if we’re able to work and reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, to some extent, we’ll be able to bring down the numbers in terms of the non-communicable diseases.”
The Head of Department of Die-therapy at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Dr. Abdul Aziz Muhammed also urged the public to switch to more healthy options of beverages rather than sugar-sweetened beverages on the market.
He said some health implications including diabetes, hypertension, renal conditions, obesity, cardiac conditions, and stroke are the most common effects of consuming such beverages.
He, therefore, advised the public to put their health first and rather consume more wholesome beverages.
“So there are definitely other healthier alternatives. People should rather consume more smoothies and fresh fruit juices. For the fresh fruit juices, we must add the fruit fibers to the juice,” he intimated.
He added saying “avoid sweetened water but rather get your normal water and add lime or lemon, you can also go for green teas. They are also good for the human body.”
Sugar-sweetened beverages are any liquids with various forms of sugar such as brown sugar, corn sweeteners, corn syrup, glucose, and raw sugar sucrose among others.
Some examples of sugar-sweetened beverages include regular soda, energy drinks, sweetened water, coffee, and tea beverages with added sugar.
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Source: Emmanuella Ama Gyamfi/ATLFMNEWS
