Sugar Tax

They are saying on the news that the money raised is going to fund sport in Primary Schools.

 

All of the above is true. There is going to be a levy on manufacturers of soft drinks. Two tax bands. Those drinks with more than 5gms/100ml and those with more than 10gms/100ml.

 

Fruit juice is full of sugar though.

 

I don't know if it includes fruit juice? I was under the impression that it was specifically soft drinks. Hmm, going to be interesting to see where they draw the line.

 

Do we get to claim Lucozade on prescription now?

 

Lucozade sports drinks are bombs waiting to go off!

 

Fruit juice is exempt.

 

Yay! I still find myself curious as to what the government defines as a fruit juice and what they define as a soft drink and what they do with stuff in between (Entirely from an intellectual standpoint) not trying to be argumentative or anything, just curious!

I'll probably look it up later for the sake of knowing

 

The Lucozade Sport is not sugary enough for hypo purposes (6g/100ml), you need the old style full fat sugary version for treating hypos (17g/100ml). I've been caught out by that before and trying to figure out why you are not recovering from a hypo whilst downing a bottle of Lucozade mid hypo is not easy.

 

When I was in hospital, there is always a bottle of original lucozade on a bedside cabinet in the diabetic ward!
I just can't get my head around that!

Hypos were my best friend once!
But I would never go anywhere near any drink that has sugar in it.
Mind you I'm not T1!

I coach football and there is no benefit in sugary drinks at all.
I have researched this aspect of conditioning over the last few years.
Water is the only hydration method necessary for sports.

 

But noshy, you know better! Water doesn't make the soft drink manufacturers millions in revenue. lol

 

It's for treating hypos, not for use as a refreshing drink.
Sugar disolved in water is the fastest way of getting it into your system, other than using an injection.

Agreed, there really isn't much need for anything other than water in most cases. Running marathons, and further, though a sugary drink can come in handy in the later stages to pick you back up again once the levels drop a bit. That's the same for everyone though, diabetic or not.
Personally I use gels during long runs, and wash them down with plain water, as that is the best way of being certain exactly how much glucose I'm taking on board during the run. Taking swigs of an energy drink on the way round and most of it would get spilled over yourself and you wouldn't know what you've actually consumed.

 

Yep,I get that. But it is T1's that will now be taxed for treating their medical condition as having sugary drinks or similar to hand is pretty much an essential part of emergency kit.

 

I guess it more just limits our options in regards to what is affordable as a part of that kit. Fruit juice isn't taxed so juice is still fine and so are a number of other sugary alternatives. I am in full support of where the money is going, but at the same time I'm a little bummed that the drinks are going up in price. (Not in the least because I'm sure the drinks companies will hike the prices of their diet beverages to match the sugared equivalent with tax applied.)

 

Think that they are excluding milk based drinks from the tax as well, chocolate milkshake being an excellent post long run recovery drink. mmmm!!!!

Unfortunately the shelf life of fruit juice and milkshakes isn't that great, and leaving a bottle in my running kit bag in the car for emergencies isn't going to last too long after a hot day.

 

The amount of sugar needed by T1s to recover from hypos is miniscule compared with the amount of sugar the average person eats and drinks - which is where the tax will hit.

When I think of the various extra expenses being diabetic puts on my life; dietary, glucose monitoring, holiday choices, etc. any sugar tax cost pales into insignificance.

Besides, a healthy diet doesn't need processed sugar in it.

I am not in favour of the tax for a number of reasons, but I don't think that complaining about an extra penny or two on the price of 60mls of lucozade is a valid objection.

 

Like I said I'm not really against the tax in any way really. I'm mostly just curious to see where it's going and what it will affect. The only slight issue I'm having is that I do tend to buy a fair bit of diet soda and as a student I worry about tiny increases in objects I buy a lot of.

Still, I think the fact that they are pushing that money into health and fitness is a good thing.

 

upper range starts at 8g, not 10g