Know The HEALTH FACTS ... Because WEALTH THRU PERSONAL HEALTH is a COMMITMENT... NOT A CHOICE!
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I came across a very unique study that has probably never been done before. How about adding extra tax everytime we take unhealthy fast foods ? Everytime we hear about being FAT and unhealthy…it has always been associated with Mc Donalds because of the way the place used to cook meals using high saturated fat or trans fat products. Likewise the marketing strategy of UPSIZING french fries and burgers with unlimited soft drinks have been blamed as culprits for the majority of the Obesity epidemic in America and probably in the world as Mc Donalds has crossed barriers and invaded every nation in the world!
The study was published recently in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and looked at the assumption of extending vlaue added tax to unhealthy foods and what could be its impact in terms of health and economic costs : Could targeted food taxes improve health? J. Epidemiol. Community Health, Aug 2007; 61: 689 – 694.
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Data: Consumption patterns and elasticity data were taken from the National Food Survey of Great Britain. The health effects of changing salt and fat intake were from previous meta-analyses.
Results: (1) Taxing only the principal sources of dietary saturated fat is unlikely to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease because the reduction in saturated fat is offset by a rise in salt consumption. (2) Taxing unhealthy foods, defined by SSCg3d score, might avert around 2300 deaths per annum, primarily by reducing salt intake. (3) Taxing a wider range of foods could avert up to 3200 cardiovascular deaths in the UK per annum (a 1.7% reduction).
Conclusions: Taxing foodstuffs can have unpredictable health effects if cross-elasticities of demand are ignored. A carefully targeted fat tax could produce modest but meaningful changes in food consumption and a reduction in cardiovascular disease.
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Probably based on this study…it can work! and most likely as a last resort to our continuing battle against the BULGE! But again it may not plainly because people will still look for things they’ve been used to liking. Just look at cigarettes and alcohol. Even with the so called SIN taxes on these products, people continue to splurge and enjoy them no matter the consequences.In short… everything boils down to DISCIPLINE and CHARACTER if we have to change the habit of EATING of every individual and the country as a whole. And to be successful… this should be shaped during childhood!
Remember if you’re child is obese by 6 years old…his likelihood of becoming obese for life is 40% and if he is obese by 12 years old… his chances of becoming obese for life is 80%!
Tax or No Tax… The Discipline Starts at HOME!
That Health Rules 
August 6, 2007 at 5:49 pm
hi doc gerry! i agree, the discipline should start at home. in fact, i think that every family should have a max time spent on fastfood chains like on a per week basis. children should be disciplined and taught that fastfood especially burgers and fries are not regular meals they can subsitute for home made healthy food.. nice to drop by your blog again!