🍩The sugar tax in the UK: Has it worked?

The sugar tax and sugar reduction programme were introduced in the UK in 2018 and 2015 respectively.

The sugar tax on the soft-drinks was successful. It led to a 34.3% fall in total sugar sales from soft drinks between 2015 and 2020.

The levy has helped to reduce obesity in teenage girls and bring about a fall in the number of children admitted to hospital for tooth decay.

It’s worth noting that many sugar-free drinks have been launched in this period. Most sales were transferred from full sugar to zero sugar drinks, rather than buying less soft drinks overall.

This may bring another problem in the long term - high artificial sweetener intake and poor gut health. But that’s for another article.

In comparison, the sugar reduction programme only yielded a 3.5% drop (despite a target of 20%) over the same period. This was an effort to influence manufacturers to use less sugar in everyday products, without financial incentive.

Given the success of the sugar tax at promoting product reformulation, the most recent WHO’s bulletin wants the next UK government to expand coverage of the levy beyond soft drinks to cakes, biscuits and chocolate to address the growing crisis of obesity.

These products have only seen a small drop in sugar content since 2015: chocolate -0.9%, biscuits -3.1% and cakes -3.2%.

🥊 Punchline

The financial incentive behind the sugar tax meant the levy was more successful than the sugar reduction programme. The extension of the levy to other high sugar products, like cakes, biscuits and chocolate could be very promising. Let’s see what the new government does.

🐟 Do Omega-3s protect against acne?

A recent study looked at the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in 100 people with acne in Germany.

It found that 96% of subjects had low levels of omega-3s fatty acids (both EPA and DHA) in their blood.

But what does it mean??

Are people with omega-3s deficiency more likely to have acne? Or are people with acne less likely to consume omega-3s?

Omega-3s are found in oily fish, algae, flaxseeds, chia and hemp seeds, walnuts and some vegetable oils.

These fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties and it is true that many of us aren’t consuming enough of them.

It is also true that food processing significantly reduces omega-3s levels in food.

The study can’t tell us that omega-3 deficiency is a cause of acne.

Rather, it’s likely that high consumption of ultra processed foods (stripped of omega-3) has a negative effect on gut health, which is highly correlated with acne prevalence.

Don’t be put off omega-3s supplement though. If you’re not consuming omega-3-rich foods, you might want to supplement with them.

🥊 Punchline

The importance of omega-3s cannot be overstated and there are many reasons why we should consume more of them. However, reducing the consumption of ultra processed foods (stripped of omega 3s) is more likely to help with your acne.

💪 Muscle proteins trigger desire to exercise

It can be hard to start exercising and often we stay “build momentum and keep going. It’ll get easier”.

There may be some truth behind this.

New research shows that specific muscle proteins activated during exercise can boost the desire to stay active.

It’s part of a feedback loop between muscle and the brain that scientists are still trying to figure out.

Proteins released from the muscle have a direct effect on the motor cortex - the part of the cerebral cortex that controls movement.

There is a balance however.

Regular exercise increases the impulse to train even more. Apart from muscle-brain signalling, fell good endorphins and lower fat mass may also be involved.

However, when we start to cross a certain threshold, there is a down regulation of this system; likely to prevent harming the body from excess exercise.

🥊 Punchline

Muscle mass decreases the risk of chronic disease the most. To ‘get the ball rolling’ with exercise and leveraging this feedback loop can be a successful strategy at improving metabolism, reduce fat accumulation (especially in the liver) and reduce risk of chronic disease.