Overweight and obesity originate from many different causes
Recently, the revised draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (SCT) has been included in the National Assembly's law-making program with the National Assembly roadmap to be discussed at the 8th Session (2024) and approved at the next session. 9th meeting (2025). In particular, the proposal to impose special consumption tax on sugary beverages is once again added to the subjects subject to special consumption tax.
However, there are still many concerns about the scientific basis for identifying and affirming that sugary beverages are the main culprit causing overweight and obesity in Vietnam, from which there are reasonable suggestions.
Talking to Labor reporters about this issue, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam - former Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, "in the past 10 years, the rate of overweight and obesity among Vietnamese people has almost doubled, especially children aged 5-19 years old, but according to WHO's assessment, the overweight and obesity rate in Vietnam is still in the green zone, being one of 10 countries with a low overweight and obesity rate in the region. Southeast Asia”.
Updated information shows that there is currently not enough scientific evidence to prove that sugary drinks are the main cause of overweight and obesity. The WHO report on overweight and obesity as well as the professional document Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity of the Ministry of Health in 2022 clearly state that overweight and obesity originate from many different causes, but they all comes from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure.
The leading causes include improper nutrition including consuming too much fat, protein, too much salt and not enough fiber, lack of physical activity, and lack of exercise.
Sharing with Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Do Thai Vuong - Head of the Beverage Subcommittee (Vietnam Alcohol and Beverage Association) - said: He is very concerned about the consumption of hand-produced soft drinks. public, not strictly controlled food safety is quite popular, especially soft drinks sold as street food today.
Therefore, a special consumption tax policy only on sugary beverages will create a compliance burden on formal manufacturing enterprises, while potentially creating conditions for informal production activities; smuggled, counterfeited, counterfeited; Production of poor quality products is increasingly growing because businesses in this informal sector will have an incentive to avoid taxes and state management.
Thus, not only is the health of the final consumer not protected as expected compared to the set goal of "preventing and reducing overweight and obesity", but it also poses many potential risks to consumers. consumer health. Another aspect is that with this situation, collection as well as the budgetary purposes of the special sales tax policy are not achieved.
In fact, in some countries, after a period of applying special consumption tax on sugary beverages, the rate of overweight and obesity has not decreased but increased over the years.
Recently, at the seminar with the topic "Imposing Special Consumption Tax on soft drinks can reduce overweight and obesity", Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao - Head of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Research Department, Institute The Central Economic Management Research (CIEM) has analyzed the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to only add beverages with sugar content above 5g/100ml according to Vietnamese standards to be subject to special consumption tax.
"When we apply and rely on Vietnamese standards like that, sometimes we have both excess and deficiency, we cannot ensure fairness" - Mr. Thao said.
Recommendations of nutrition and medical experts
It is necessary to strengthen communication and education at schools about balanced and reasonable nutrition to prevent overweight and obesity.
Use food sources reasonably, control your diet without excess. The diet needs to increase the use of fruits and vegetables, fiber, and use foods rich in micronutrients or foods fortified with micronutrients to improve meal quality.
Increase physical activity and reduce sedentary time for children both at school and at home.
