Slimmers’ poll

Citation

(2012), "Slimmers’ poll", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 42 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2012.01742aaa.005

Slimmers’ poll

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 42, Issue 1

A poll of around 1,000 slimmers reveals that the majority would support a junk food tax – if the money raised was used to subsidise the cost of healthy foods, like fruit and vegetables, to make them more affordable.

The poll was conducted by Slimming World on its Facebook fan page following the presentation of a series of reports by The Lancet that predict that around half of people will have an obese BMI by 2030. The authors of the reports blame aggressive advertising and lobbying by the food industry for the rise in the number of people who are overweight, proposing a tax on junk food to reverse the trend. Out of nearly 1,000 people who took part in the poll, 48 percent supported the idea of introducing a junk food tax. And, in a related poll, when asked if they would support a junk food tax if the money was used to subsidise the cost of healthy food, support jumped to 90 percent.

Slimming World is the largest and most advanced slimming organisation in the UK. Margaret Miles-Bramwell founded the company in 1969 and there are now more than 7,800 groups held weekly nationwide via a network of 3,000 Slimming World trained consultants (www.slimmingworld.com).