Hike Tax on Food Products With High Salt, Sugar Content: WHO Chief Scientist

The WHO chief scientist had said that the government should consider taxing food products which are high in sugar, fat and salt so as to encourage people towards a healthier diet.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the government should consider taxing food products which are high in sugar, fat and salt so as to encourage people towards a healthier diet.

Delivering the first //Dr. C. Gopalan Memorial Lecture at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), she said: "The co-existence of overweight and obesity along with stunting is the new nutrition reality that we need to address urgently."

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Citing data on malnutrition, Swaminathan said about 2.3 billion adults and children are overweight globally, with about 150 million stunted children.

The burden of overweight and obesity is growing very rapidly and the rate of undernutrition is coming down which would have long-term negative consequences affecting the future generations, she added.

Expressing concern at the cheap and easy availability of ultra-processed foods than the healthy foods, Swaminathan said taxing unhealthy food or making nutrition information labelling mandatory could help.

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Gopalan, who passed away last year, is known as "Father of Nutrition Research in India" and was former Director General, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) as well as Director of the National Institute of Nutrition.

Source-IANS

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