A ‘fat tax’ could save lives

British researchers from the University of Oxford claim that a tax on unhealthy foods could help save up to 3,200 people per year. A tax on all food products that are fat, sweet or salty could help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 1.7%.

While Professor Hans-Gregor Joost, director of the German Institute for Nutrition Research (DIfE), agrees that unhealthy consumption habits is something to be concerned over, he refuses to penalise products, but rather wants to focus on consumers’ eating habits. He believes that there is a need to address people’s over-indulgence habits, rather than categorize products as unhealthy. For him, classifying products is too subjective, and ‘extremely difficult’.

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