Should sugar be taxed extra by the government

Sugar is often an added ingredient in several dishes and drinks. Humans are “programmed” to enjoy this sweet taste addition. Food and drink manufacturers will therefore add plenty of sugar to ensure their products will be purchased and consumed. However consuming large amounts of sugar has been proven to cause severe health problems such as obesity, diabetes 2 and also tooth decay. Some scientists even believe certain cancer tumours develop faster when high amounts of sugar are present in the bloodstream. Processed sugar also releases quick energy and gives what someone might call a sugar high but are not as efficient for keeping the energy in your body as good as more slow carbohydrates. I strongly believe products containing sugar should be sold and purchased at higher prize. Firstly, as mentioned above sugar in excessive amounts may cause severe health problems, and health problems need eventually to be treated, something the state or patient has to pay thus causing a huge extra cost for the health care system. I am from Norway where the government has added an extra tax called the “sugar tax” to make sure sugary products are more expensive and encourage people to buy healthier options, such as fruit and vegetables. Secondly having large amounts of sugar may become addictive, the more sugar you consume the more you crave it. Increasing the cost also means children hopefully will start their life with a more balanced and healthy diet. I believe children’s diet and their eating habits sets a standard for the rest of their life. It is important to encourage the younger generation to eat less sugar by making it more expensive. This will hopefully create a new generation with healthier eating habits thus preventing lifestyle disease longer down the track which again will reduce health care costs for the society.