A suggested tax on sugar sweetened beverages has been given more credence in a research paper by academics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The paper, titled The potential impact of a 20% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages on obesity in South African adults: A mathematical model, is published in the prestigious open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Authors Mercy Manyema, Dr Lennert Veerman, Dr Lumbwe Chola, Aviva Tugendhaft, Professor Benn Sartorius, Professor Demetre Labadarios and Professor Karen Hofman, hail from several institutions contributing to the paper.

These include the Priority Cost Effective Lessons for System Strengthening (PRICELESS-SA) program in the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit in the Wits School of Public Health; the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland, Australia; the Discipline of Public Health Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; and the South African Human Sciences Research Council.

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