HIGHER sugar tax will not deter Malaysians from consuming sugar, consumer associations and health experts said.

While the tax is a start, the government must come up with more initiatives to educate Malaysians on the amount of sugar they are consuming and the resulting adverse health effects, they said.

They also urged the Health Ministry (MOH) to be more accountable and not just focus on the Covid-19 epidemic to the exclusion of other diseases.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations president Marimuthu Nadason said it is difficult to change a person’s sugar consumption habits.

“When you talk about habits, it is difficult to change,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“The tax won’t deter the consumer from eating or drinking sugary products. If someone drinks Coca Cola everyday, he will continue doing that. The tax won’t stop him.

“If you ask the Kelantanese to stop using sugar in their food, they are also not going to do that.”

The government introduced the sugar tax in 2019 in gearing towards a healthy lifestyle.

The tax is imposed on sugar sweetened beverages at a rate of RM0.40 per litre, where the total sugar content of the beverage exceeds 5g/100ml2.

Proper labelling

Consumer associations are also asking the government to come up with proper labelling of sugar content in food and beverage items so that consumers are aware how much they are consuming.

Lim Jee Yuan, a research officer at the Consumers’ Association of Penang, said this is important as the current labelling system is hard to decipher.

“I think they should very clearly label the products with high sugar content. It should be made easy to read,” he said.

One method the government can implement is the traffic light system to indicate the sugar content in a food or beverage item, he said.

“You can see straight away that the product has high sugar content if it’s red, moderate if amber and less if it’s green.”

This labelling system, he said, should not just be limited to sugar but also sodium, he added.

“We should also highlight the amount of sodium in products. We have a high number of stroke and hypertension patients.”

The Malaysian Medical Association recently urged for proper labelling on sugary products in view of the worrying trend of diabetes.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 by MOH, one in five adults in Malaysia has diabetes.

The prevalence of diabetes among Malaysian adults aged 18 and above rose from 11.2% in 2011 to 13.4% in 2015. In 2019, the figure was 18.3% or 3.9 million of the adult population.

Malay Muslim Consumers Association president Nadzim Johan agreed with Lim that it is high time MOH demanded that products with high sugar content be labelled accordingly.

“The MOH doesn’t do anything to make people realise that sugar is poisonous to their health.

“MOH should not just make noise about Covid-19. There are other issues at hand.”

Promote a healthy lifestyle

Meanwhile, doctors said the sugar tax alone is not enough to solve the issue of consumption but that it must go hand in hand with other health initiatives.

Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said the implementation of the sugar tax merely complements other efforts.

“The government must start promoting a healthy lifestyle by providing fiscal and social incentives for healthy food.

“The fiscal and social incentives should also extend to exercise and recreational activities,” he said.

MOH should also provide diabetes screening kits so that people can regularly test the sugar levels in their bodies, he said.

On top of sugar tax, he also recommended several other taxes be imposed to encourage Malaysians to lead a healthy lifestyle.

“They should look at increasing the tax on unhealthy foods such as those that have high fat content.”

Dr Danish Ng Ooi Yee, an endocrinologist from Prince Court Medical Centre said the government should reconsider increasing the price of sugar and condensed milk as a deference.

“We should also start taxing fast food. The government should start a diabetes awareness campaign to warn the public about sugar consumption,” he said.

Currently, the price of sugar is regulated by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

One kg of refined sugar is priced at RM2.95 while 1kg of coarse sugar costs RM2.85. – November 27, 2021.