Its worth digging down beyond the sugar- tax proposals that are making all the headlines from Public Health England’s sugar evidence review.  Here are a few points from the report that are worth chewing over:

1. Marketing in all its many forms consistently influences food preference, choice and purchasing in children and adults. End of aisle displays, for example, leads to a 50% increase in purchases of fizzy drinks.
2. Food promotions are more widespread in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, accounting for around 40% of all domestic food and drink spending.
3. Price promotions increase the amount of food and drink people buy by around one-fifth. These are purchases people would not make without the in-store promotions. They also increase the amount of sugar purchased from higher sugar foods and drinks by 6% overall and influence purchasing by all socioeconomic and demographic groups.

In a bid to increase transparency, Coca-Cola has disclosed spending US$118·6 million in the past 5 years on scientific research and health and wellbeing partnerships.

What are your views on health organisations receiving such funding from the food and drinks industry? A severe conflict of interest or doing something good with ‘dirty’ money?

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2900397-9/fulltext