Sweet enough? A quiz!

OK, 4 questions  for you:
1. Since 1992 has overall sugar consumption in Britain a) gone up by 16%, b) stayed about the same or c) gone down by 16%?
2. Over the last 10 years has the number of overweight children a) gone up, b) stayed the same or c) gone down?
3. Over the last 10 years has the average number of calories consumed daily a) gone up, b) stayed about the same or c) gone down?
4. Over the last 5 years, have admissions to hospital where obesity is the primary cause a) gone up, b) stayed about the same or c) gone down?

I was surprised when I read Luke Johnson's Sunday Times column this week and I've turned his facts below into a quiz. He was querying the logic for a sugar tax, cautioning that health zealots will spoil things for us, potentially threatening jobs in the process and arguing that knee jerk, unwise legislation is not the answer to ill health and obesity.

According to Luke, the anwers are:
1. c, sugar consumption is down by 16%, according to DEFRA
2. b, the number of overweight children hasn't risen in 10 years, says Luke
3. c, UK average calories consumed daily (I assume per person) has gone down according to Goldman Sachs, citing government data
4. c, admissions to hospital with obesity as prime cause peaked 5 years ago, says Luke.

I like reading Luke's entrepreneurs view, with its pro-business stance. But these facts don't correlate with the evidence of my own eyes. And he has made his living in the food and drink industry for 25 years, so there may be some selective quoting of the facts here. However, since sugary drinks provide just 3% of the nation's calorie intake, it's hard to argue that a sugar tax will make much difference. And it does open the door to other taxes by the nanny state, as the tobacco industry is warning us.

So what will this or a future chancellor tax next? After all, there's a lot of sugar and fat containing foods to go for. I fear for the price of my cream tea treats!