UK extends sugar tax to include milk-based drinks

London — A war on sugar is being waged in British supermarkets these days, and this week the United Kingdom extended its sugar tax to some coffee drinks and smoothies in a continuing effort to combat obesity.

“Actually, in the U.K., it’s the number one reason kids are admitted to hospital,” Dr. Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist who lobbied the U.K. government to impose a tax on sugary drinks, told News themezone of the sugar crisis.

“If you want to have a big impact on the population, well, where does it come from?” Hashem said. “It was pretty clear that the biggest contributor was soft drinks, so let’s start with soft drinks.”

The British tax came into force in 2018, up to 30 cents per liter for 8 grams or more of sugar per 100 milliliters, depending on the sugar content of the drink. But rather than pass that cost on to the consumer, many manufacturers reduced the sugar content of their products to avoid the tax altogether.

As a result, the British version of some drinks is now very different to products with the same label in the US. In many cases, the sugar has been replaced by aspartame, an artificial sweetener.

This week, the UK Department of Health and Social Care announced it would expand its tax to include milk-based drinks, including smoothies, flavored milks, sweetened yogurt drinks, chocolate milk and certain coffees. Companies have until January 2028 to comply with the new requirements.

“This is a tax on manufacturers and importers, which has led companies to act by halving the sugar content in popular drinks to avoid the tax,” the UK government said in its announcement on Tuesday. “The government hopes that companies will do the same with the expansion.”

The tax applies to drinks with a sugar content of 5 grams per 100 milliliters. However, the new guidance will lower that threshold to 4.5 grams.

Among 10- and 11-year-old girls alone, the tax prevents 5,000 cases of obesity a year, according to a 2023 study by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Jules Dunlop is an American mother living in the British countryside. She and her family love food and often post about it on social media. They say they are definitely not health freaks.

“If we compare junk food to junk food, automatically in the United Kingdom you will get a healthier version of what is available in the United States,” Dunlop said.

Dunlop says that when it comes to taste, you would “never know the difference” between the same drink in the US and the UK. He says eating less sugar has given him more energy and clearer skin.

“Just being able to have that less sugar base here has made a big difference,” he says of living in Europe compared to the U.S. “And I think there’s an overall healthier lifestyle here.”

Some American cities have also introduced a sugar tax, but without a national policy, American manufacturers are unlikely to change their drink formulas.