UK introduced a tax on high sugar drinks a few years ago. Most drinks changed their recipe to be under the threshold and taste weird now. Coca Cola was the only one that didn’t. I just looked and a 24 pack of cans is £15.25 for original where diet and zero are on sale at £8.50. The tax is only about £2 on that though so no idea why it’s so much more.
I pretty much entirely stopped drinking all of them though because I can’t stand the taste now so I guess the tax worked. They are lowering the sugar threshold again in a couple years so I imagine more recipe changes are coming.
That’s not a bad idea. It is addictive. Tax it like alcohol and tobacco. I’ve watched a subset of diabetics scream that they need sugar no matter what healthcare tries to say about it. Tears. More often, anger and spiteful overconsumption in reaction to being told no. (A subset, not all.)
I was one of those people who knew my lifestyle was unhealthy, and turning it around was always just one week away. The diagnosis of type II felt like a loss of agency. Like it was no longer my choice to cut back on, or to cut out sugar.
Once the initial shock of diagnosis and grief over all the foods I’d lost settled down, the truth was clear. I had made the choice. The choice to open every single one of those sodas, the choice to go with convenience over health. The choice to kick the can down the road, and I still had the choice to diet, or die slowly.
Not gonna lie and say my diet is perfect now but, according to my NP, my labs paint the picture of someone successfully managing diabetes. I know I still have some work to do though.
Overall, Coke is most affordable compared with minimum wage in England, especially when Coke Zero is on offer, then Helsinki; in the US it takes the most minimum-wage work to buy a litre, and because regular and sugar-free cost exactly the same, there’s no price incentive at all to choose the sugar-free one.
In England for a 24 pack (330ml?), sugar is £15 (€17.5, $20 USD), sugar free is £12 with a deal for £8.50 (€10, $11.5 USD), no deals for the sugar one! £12.71 is minimum wage here (€14.86, $17.21 USD). In US Walmart I see 24 pack of sugar and non sugar for $15.37 USD (12 OZx24) and US minimum wage is $7.25 USD (£5.40, €6.30).
I just wish the reason would be a tax on sugar which is then used to subsidise more healthy options. But I don’t believe that to be the case here. :(
UK introduced a tax on high sugar drinks a few years ago. Most drinks changed their recipe to be under the threshold and taste weird now. Coca Cola was the only one that didn’t. I just looked and a 24 pack of cans is £15.25 for original where diet and zero are on sale at £8.50. The tax is only about £2 on that though so no idea why it’s so much more.
I pretty much entirely stopped drinking all of them though because I can’t stand the taste now so I guess the tax worked. They are lowering the sugar threshold again in a couple years so I imagine more recipe changes are coming.
That’s not a bad idea. It is addictive. Tax it like alcohol and tobacco. I’ve watched a subset of diabetics scream that they need sugar no matter what healthcare tries to say about it. Tears. More often, anger and spiteful overconsumption in reaction to being told no. (A subset, not all.)
If a diabetic has low blood sugar, then they literally DO need sugar, and fast!
I was one of those people who knew my lifestyle was unhealthy, and turning it around was always just one week away. The diagnosis of type II felt like a loss of agency. Like it was no longer my choice to cut back on, or to cut out sugar.
Once the initial shock of diagnosis and grief over all the foods I’d lost settled down, the truth was clear. I had made the choice. The choice to open every single one of those sodas, the choice to go with convenience over health. The choice to kick the can down the road, and I still had the choice to diet, or die slowly.
Not gonna lie and say my diet is perfect now but, according to my NP, my labs paint the picture of someone successfully managing diabetes. I know I still have some work to do though.
Not easy, you’ve done well.
Thanks!
That’s what we are doing in Finland. Sugar free drinks are taxed at 20c/l but other drinks can go up to 59c/l depending on the sugar amount
Just checked prices from one grocery store and coke zero 24-pack is 15.50€ while the regular one is 19.50€
Overall, Coke is most affordable compared with minimum wage in England, especially when Coke Zero is on offer, then Helsinki; in the US it takes the most minimum-wage work to buy a litre, and because regular and sugar-free cost exactly the same, there’s no price incentive at all to choose the sugar-free one.
In England for a 24 pack (330ml?), sugar is £15 (€17.5, $20 USD), sugar free is £12 with a deal for £8.50 (€10, $11.5 USD), no deals for the sugar one! £12.71 is minimum wage here (€14.86, $17.21 USD). In US Walmart I see 24 pack of sugar and non sugar for $15.37 USD (12 OZx24) and US minimum wage is $7.25 USD (£5.40, €6.30).