If they’re really going to tax sugar-free drinks (and not even use the money for healthcare) then it’s obviously going to be another tax on being poor, like the increase of the value added tax that they are also planning.
Just what we asked for. Tax increases that are going to do nothing to the overly rich and instead hurt regular people. And then they wonder why people turn to political extremism.
The minister of finance clarified that the tax will not apply to sugar free drinks
O lol that’s fairly recent tho. Yesterday they were all saying: hurr durr the drinking of sweet tasting things should be curbed and I almost punched the narrator via TCP/IP
I would definitely support it if somebody wants to tax stevia.
What’s wrong with stevia?
Nothing other than the aftertaste.
Funny Thing ist the Aftertaste comes from the Processing that ist mandated by law and has been lobbied in by big sugar
As someone who drank stevia soda for an extended time, the brain eventually adapts to it, and stevia starts tasting like normal sugar. This adaption, however, is easy to lose if you switch back to a different sweetener for a few weeks.
I’m used to it. Better than actual sugar which causes some weird itching sensation for a while.
Its fucking disgusting tasting.
If you read it, the tax will still apply to drinks with artificial sweetener:
“Gestern war ein Papier aus Klingbeils Ministerium bekannt geworden, demzufolge die geplante Abgabe mehr Produkte betreffen könnte als ursprünglich angenommen. In dem Papier des Finanzministeriums sind zum Beispiel auch Säfte, Milchersatzprodukte wie Hafer- und Mandelmilch und alkoholfreie Biermixgetränke genannt, außerdem Getränke, die lediglich Süßungsmittel enthalten.”
It is not about “sugar-free”. It is about added artifical sweeteners. Not that one thinks they would add sugar tax to e.g. sparkling water…
why is that rational but 100% pure milk is ok?
the milk that we’re sold is for fucking cows. how much more ‘unnatural’ can you get? would you go cuddle a cow and drink from its tit?
i don’t even buy any of the dangers of artificial sweeteners. can you even create a study where someone is indulging in aspartame and also not eating/drinking one of the other 34983048304834 chemicals we’re taking in on a daily basis?
even if it is bad on some level, fruit juice is worse strictly going by sugar/calorie content unless it’s squeezed straight from the fruit, which nobody is doing, other than weirdos.
would you go cuddle a cow and drink from its tit?
Is that really something you want these people to answer?
Some of the more stupid Americans are actually proud of drinking raw milk. A rather dangerous hobby, especially with the state of medical insurance in the US.
I would definitely not drink milk directly from a cow. That is something I leave to conservative idiots in the US.
As for artificial sweeteners, there are dozens of peer-reviewed studies on the dangers, and some of those chemical have already been taken off the market. Biological / pharmaceutical research has mastered to single out threats from single components long ago, so if they come to the conclusion that aspartame or others are bad, they have good reason to believe it actually was that components fault.
They always fumble stuff like this on purpose. A bag of nuts has the worst nutri score ever, a deep frozen pizza is a B.
Lobbyists the answer is lobbyists. The government is very corrupt here, especially the current one.
Nutri scores compare with similar products in a category.
Nuts and pizza are in different categories, and maybe that specific pizza was better than the rest.
100% fruit juices would remain exempt
Why?? Shit’s sugar. You’re not getting most of the nutritional benefit from juice, all the fiber has been removed.
My guess is because it’s unsweetened, and that the tax applies to drinks with added sugar or sweetener.
‘We should reduce sugar and sweetener consumption, let’s not tax this drink that’s almost pure sugar because it’s natural’ is asinine. Apple juice has virtually identical sugar content to a soda.
They’re not the same types of sugar. Your body uses glucose differently than fructose.
They are both very high in fructose. What is your point? I genuinly don’t get it.
Maybe to some extent? I don’t think the superiority of one monosaccharide over the other has been clearly established. There are differences, but the health impact of them are not clear. Also, “glucose vs fructose” is
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not super-relevant to the matter of comparing juice with soda. At least here in the Nordics, most sodas seem to be sweetened with sugar, a.k.a. sucrose (a.k.a. fructose+glucose, see below), and maybe a splash of juice. (Based on a survey of my favorites, though I mostly drink the Zero-versions)
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a bit of a false choice (see below).
Fructose often co-occurs with glucose
(Source: Wikipedia article on Fructose)
- Fructose co-exists with glucose, in sucrose …
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a common monosaccharide, i.e. a simple sugar. It is classified as a reducing hexose, more specifically a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose.
- … and in fruit.
Table: “Sugar content of selected common plant foods”. Note that many of the fruits’ sugar content is dominated by a combination of sucrose and free fructose. Only plum breaks this trend, containing mostly glucose instead (still 47% sucrose and fructose).
- Also: Fructose mostly ends up as glucose
The liver converts most fructose and galactose into glucose for distribution in the bloodstream or deposition into glycogen.
“Potential health effects”
- A lot of the discussion in this part of the article is just about overconsumption of dietary sugars (including glucose and sucrose) in general, which would indicate to me that the differences between them aren’t all that significant. However:
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stated in 2011 that fructose may be preferable over sucrose and glucose in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages because of its lower effect on postprandial blood sugar levels,[58] while also noting the potential downside that “high intakes of fructose may lead to metabolic complications such as dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, and increased visceral adiposity”.[58][59] The UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in 2015 disputed the claims of fructose causing metabolic disorders, stating that “there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that fructose intake, at levels consumed in the normal UK diet, leads to adverse health outcomes independent of any effects related to its presence as a component of total and free sugars.”[60]
- “Compared to sucrose”
Fructose was found to increase triglycerides in type-2 but not type-1 diabetes, and moderate use of it has previously been considered acceptable as a sweetener for diabetics,[61] possibly because it does not trigger the production of insulin by pancreatic β cells.[62] For a 50 gram reference amount, fructose has a glycemic index of 23, compared with 100 for glucose and 60 for sucrose.[63] Fructose is also 73% sweeter than sucrose at room temperature, allowing diabetics to use less of it per serving.
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What is the difference? Both harmful same way, glucose spikes, leads to obesity
They are not. Monosaccharides are absorbed differently and used differently than disaccharides.
The sugar in soda contains fructose (it is in fact 50% fructose). Soda with HFCS isn’t actually that much higher in fructose than plain sugar soda, ironically; the ‘high’ just means ‘higher than white sugar’.
The “high” means greater than 55% fructose. HFCS has to be at minimum HFCS-55 according to the FDA. Many sodas mix HFCS-55 with HFCS-90 to increase the concentration. And I never said that soda doesn’t have fructose? Don’t know where you got that.
Isn’t it fructose, or has it changed during the “jucification” process? I mean fructose is sugar, but way less bad than refined sugars.
Why not tax the actual apples then?
Because apples aren’t apple juice, metabolically or nutritionally. The fiber slows down how fast you absorb the sugar and it’s good for your gut.
Don’t get me wrong, they probs should tax it but wouldn’t that just push people to make their own juice instead and probs not change much?
I doubt it, making juice is annoying and you have a lot of apple mush to deal with.
Eh fair enough.
I motion we tax Catoblepas for being too starchy.
Yes that’s why I wouldn’t tax them extra, however you seem to be advocating for a tax on anything with sugar. So why the change? You say yourself they’ve still sugar in it so why not tax them according to your logic?
To put another way, if the presence of sugar isn’t enough to justify the tax on its own, as long as the form is somrwhat different, then why not accept the difference between added sugar and no added sugar? That’s just as meaningful a difference.
I have no idea what you’re trying to advocate for here, but a dietitian isn’t going to tell you that apple juice and an apple are the same, because they’re not; a single serving of apple juice isn’t even made from a single apple. Fruit is healthy to eat, juice is not a health drink. If you’re taxing for health it makes sense to tax the unhealthy things and not the healthy ones.
I’m not really advocating for anything other than pointing out that your argument is inconsistent. Is it about the sugar or not? If not then you’ve already accepted that there are different definitions and clearly juice is a different definition than a soft drink. Your arbitrarily deciding what’s okay and not okay from what I can see of your argument. Adding healthy is even worse. That’s an extremely subjective argument.
What about grapes? They’re extremely high in sugar and relatively low in fiber. Is that okay? Do you see what I’m saying? There’s no consistency to go on here.
That’s not true, the tax apply to unsweetened milk alternatives.
This is probably the most bizzare part
Someone paid someone else a million and now juice with 50 percent sugar is not included in this.
Stevia coke is, how weird …
because they aren’t purtity testing their legislation and added sugar and added artificial sweeteners is their current target, it’s a start ffs
Because like all laws, corruption came into the process to make it miss the goal entirely.
Taxing almost all sugary drinks including artificial sweetners but not 100% juice is not “missing the goal entirely”. That’s still hitting the unhealthiest and most marketed beverages.
There is no evidence that sugar substitutes are unhealthy and in fact have proven over and over again to increase weight loss compared to full sugar or telling people to “just drink more water”.
I’d agree if this targeted products with added sugar and left the artificial sweetners out of it. Fruit juice is also sold in high volumes, especially to families and people beyond their prime age. They might be less marketed, but I would argue they’re not less unhealthy than soda with artificial sweetners. They might not miss the figurative goal entirely, but they sure are missing their literal goal if they are doing this to limit peoples consumption of unhealthy drinks.
Hypocrisy is hypocrisy regardless of its intentions.
A company (Compal) in my country (Portugal) that has been making whole fruit juice since the 70’s. If they made it any thicker, you could eat it with a fork.
Spain and France also have off-brand manufacturers of this type of fruit drink. Germany could learn something
You can’t expect logic from a conservative government, silly.
The problem is processed sugar being the cheapest calories per weight you can find so adding sugar to drinks is hyper cheap while getting people (especially kids) addicted and sick. 100% fruit juices arent the problem.
No, the problem is that people have simply demonized soda. HFCS in particular. It’s not about sugar, it never has been. An exception for fruit juice makes this obvious. It’s the “naturalistic fallacy” in action.
How does an exception for fruit juice (containing natural sugar and relatively expensive) make it obvious that its not about added sugar and cheap drinks?
Sugar is exactly as healthy as sugar. Notice how I didn’t add any words to the front? Those words don’t change how (un)healthy sugar is. The law clearly isn’t about health; as it is portrayed.
Furthermore, they tax artificial sweeteners as well. So, might as well use actual sugar if you are paying the tax either way!
Sugar is exactly as healthy as sugar.
This shows how little you know about the subject yet you keep arguing as if you had facts. Sugar is a category of compounds consisting mainly of saccharids (which again, is a category of compounds). There are literally thousands of “sugars” which vary wildly in their effects on the human body. Also, other stuff you ingest/digest at the same time influences those as well…
Furthermore, they tax artificial sweeteners as well.
Nope. Klingbeil revoked that immediately afterwards.
This shows how little you know about the subject yet you keep arguing as if you had facts. Sugar is a category of compounds consisting mainly of saccharids (which again, is a category of compounds). There are literally thousands of “sugars” which vary wildly in their effects on the human body. Also, other stuff you ingest/digest at the same time influences those as well…
Yeah - but that’s not what this is about is it? It’s “natural good-for-you sugar” vs. “evil corporate refined high-fructose corn syrup”. The naturalistic fallacy laid bare.
Not as far as Im concerned. This is “corporations add dirt cheap sugar to drinks making people addicted to poison for cents per liter” vs. “there simply is sugar in a pressed fruit”. And does it really matter what the motivation is as long as the desired result is the same? Taxing fruit juices just wouldnt make any sense. Theyre not the problem.
Not all sugar is the same. I’ve read that natural fruit sugar is still way healthier than industrially refined sugar. Also fruit juice usually contains vitamins, electrolytes and fiber. So from a health perspective it makes sense to me to exempt 100℅ fruit juices. The alternative would be to only allow juice mixed with water or something else.
Jesus, the Kennedy-fication of public health is real.
Read where?
I’ll just link to another comment I made here: https://feddit.nu/post/22364165/21693381
I read in a magazine a few years ago, so I can’t point you to that exact source. But yeah, it’s surely more complicated than that
Well, you read wrong. Fructose is a very short chain sugar and is absorbed into the bloodstream a lot faster than “regular” sugar, making it more unhealthy.
“regular sugar” is 50% fructose.
But it’s much more sweet tasting so you need less of it. Don’t know if it actually balances out though.
Fructose is worse than sugar
Sugar is literally 50% fructose.
The comments here are insane
Not sure why you are getting downvoted, it’s established science that fructose is worse than glucose. People freak out at high fructose corn syrup, but when it’s “natural” juices it’s completely fine I guess
Because “standard sugar” is 50% fructose. Sucrose is half glucose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup is 42-55% fructose with the remainder being glucose.
Huh? Those natural juices are glucose. They have some fructose still, but it’s nothing like sweetened drinks.
At least in the case of apples, cultivated fruits are mostly sucrose and fructose: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814614013995
Sucrose is itself 50% fructose.
Sure. Maybe I’m just in a weird group of people, but I don’t know anyone that considers Apple juice to be fruit juice though. At least from a perspective of “would you like some juice”. No one is ever talking about apple juice because it’s long been just sugar water in America. There’s only like two good brands that make it anymore. When the people I know talk about juice it’s orange, pineapple, mango, etc. almost always pulpy juices.
Okay, but this is about Germany, and apple juice is the most popular juice in Germany. And apple flavored sugar water is not allowed to be labeled as Apple juice here
You’re in a weird group or a weird country then, I drink apple juice quite often, even have made it myself when there’s been a plentiful year. And it’s still pulpy.
If you’re getting pulpy apple juice then yes, you are not in my country. I’m in the U.S. I’ve never even heard of pulpy apple juice.
Another thing on the list of don’t buy in America :(
It is a good way to tax the poors while pretending it is ethical and for public health… May the poors would be healthier if they have less money?
Starved poors mean less poors so everyone will be richer. Easy how that works isn’t it?
Taxing sugar is protecting the poor people’s wallets long-term from having to buy Ozempic, surgeries, sneakers for jogging, and fitness trackers.
That’s the real way wealth gets transfered from the bottom to the top - by selling poison AND the treatment for it.
Now that you say it, it truely works. And look, for tabaco, before the poors were smoking and dieing of the consequences of it while evil rich were getting rich by selling them poison. And so it was the richs’fault!
Thanks to taxes, poors keep smoking and they still die of it, and rich seller still make money out of it. But now the fault is on the poors who are smokers…
Also, I would like to suggest heavy high taxe on sugar and sweet products so that blackmarket could keep growing. And since we now buy cigarets from illegal drug dealers, why not also buy from them our candies and sodas? It gives back some money to (the richest one of the) poor neighbohoods without direct intervention in the economy.
Education and program for healthy behaviour accessible even for poors would be so wrong: the richest would make less money and pass for the bad guys…
Let’s go start a black market sugarbeet farm. Well take it in with our tax free pirate sugar.
“But there isn’t even sugar in this!”
“Yeah, but you still suck, so you’re paying anyway.”
> Invents Spezi, the best beverage there is
> Invents Shorle, the best beverage type there is
> Taxes the shit out of them
I see what you did hereSo if I sell water with the tag sugar free will it get taxed?
If it doesn’t contain sweeteners, then no
It’s sugar free.
But that’s not specifically when the tax is applied
I’m gonna go broke when they introduce the Spicy Tax.
Fuck you and your döner
- Bundestag, probably
Ordering “ohne scharf” because you’re weak ❌
Ordering “ohne scharf” because you can’t afford it ✅
The UK has had this for a while. I will be honest in that I still miss the taste of full sugar drinks, that’s definitely a downgrade, however after so many years of having these other drinks available I’ve lately found full sugar to be just… Too much.
Some artificial sugars do a number on my gut though. Been drinking more healthier things as a result, though overall I suppose the sugar tax has had a positive effect?
Some artificial sugars do a number on my gut though
Do not eat any substantial amounts of candy containing xylitol. Stuff is a laxative, and lots of sugar-free candy and gum uses it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol
Adverse effects
Humans
When ingested at high doses, xylitol and other polyols may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, including flatulence, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome (see Metabolism above); some people experience the adverse effects at lower doses.[21][36] Xylitol has a lower laxation threshold than some sugar alcohols but is more easily tolerated than mannitol and sorbitol.[37]
Its also poisonous to pets, just fyi
There’s that LA Beast video on YouTube where he goes through a large bag of sugar free haribo bears and develops an excellent relationship with his toilet. After reading hilarious Amazon reviews about how they’re a laxative.
I discovered him when he ate two huge jars of Vegemite straight up. As an Australian, this made me worry about his blood pressure.
“Awgh! It burns!”
My wife is ADHD and cannot stop herself from chewing through an entire box of gum if she buys one, then spends the evening moaning in pain on the toilet. 😬
It does help to reduce cavities, however. Xylitol limits acid production from fermenting bacteria, and it’s the acid which actually causes cavities (sugar, on the other hand, feeds the fermentation).
So use xylitol toothpaste if you can. You don’t swallow it, so the stomach concerns are nullified.
Personally, I find that sucralose is the only artificial sweetener that doesn’t taste kinda gross. Maybe dried up stevia leaves would be ok but I’m pretty sure I taste some leftover solvent in the refined stuff. The compound itself might be natural (not that that even really matters, as the sugar it is intended to replace is also natural), but since it’s not water soluable, processing it involves substances some would consider… unnatural.
Today I learned y’all dumb as fuck. What’s wrong with the comments?
I understand what you mean, dw there are still reasonable people
The Union really doing their upmost to have the AFD seem more appealing for the uneducated, reactionary conservatives.
The problem is that companies will figure out whar artificial sweeteners get around the tax.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. This is good.
Diabetes is a real issue that actually kills people.
Your link says:
The committee therefore reaffirmed that it is safe for a person to consume within this limit per day. For example, with a can of diet soft drink containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame, an adult weighing 70kg would need to consume more than 9–14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake, assuming no other intake from other food sources.
Yes it is, and it’s solved not by soft drinks but making healthy food more accessible even to the most financially streched families. Shit food is always cheaper than healthy food. Yet they’ll push to the corporations preferred and most profitable artificial sweeteners.
If you tax sugar in drinks, doesn’t that mean that healthy options become cheaper?
You mean the price a smoothie drops? No. Does that or sweetener drinks give people more money in their wallet? No.
Kinda hard to pitch that as a loophole when it was the original plan set forth by the health ministry. They want companies to reformulate to reduce added sugar
They also want them to reformulate away from the current artificial sweeteners to full sugar. If you gotta pay the tax, might as well use the tasty stuff.
That’s the new version not the original, although there may be another newer version that once again excludes artificial sugar.
Apparently this entire tax has become a governmental shit show with lots of fighting between groups. So who knows anymore
I’m more often drinking water, only coffee with stevia for up to 4 times a day, and enjoy a little soda or fruit juice once in a while as I treat those the same way as a shot of whisky. Just all in moderation.
