NOV 12 — The Malaysian Dental Association welcomes the tax on sugary drinks. It is a small nod on the part of the government in recognising the role of sugar in the deteriorating health of our citizens.

Kudos also to our health minister in his Deepavali greeting in Tamil which included gentle advice not to overindulge our sweet tooth.

This small nod in taxing sugary drinks pales in significance to the enormity of our national health report card which has marked us as the fattest people of Asia with the fastest growing diabetic rate in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia.

One of the major factors is our national obsession in super sweetening all our food and drinks all the way even to our soya sauce.

Thus the small tax on sugary drinks may be a timely, though long delayed rap on the national knuckles. Before we keep patting each other on our backs, we should recognize that we will need to move towards a tax on sugar at source and also educate our young at school and widely disseminate to the public the deleterious effects of added sugar to our food and drinks.

Only a meaningful tax on sugar and a sustained well planned and informed campaign against excessive consumption of sugar can make a dent on tooth loss and diabetes and all the concomitant diseases tied to it.

It will surprisingly enhance our quality of life and food and also lower healthcare costs substantially.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.