Leicester and Nottingham amongst top 25 authorities nationwide where impact of a sugary drinks duty would be most significant

New research, published by the Children's Food Campaign in association with University of Liverpool academic Brendan Collins and Food Active, shows that if the government introduced a 20 pence per litre sugary drinks duty in England, then the impact in North East England over twenty years would be to:

reduce the cases of diabetes by over 4,000
prevent almost 800 cases of bowel cancer
reduce strokes and cases of coronary heart disease by almost 3,000
save the NHS over £1million a year in healthcare costs for treating those diseases.
improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of residents.

The impact on calorie reduction would be greatest in places such as Leicester and Nottingham, which have the highest relative proportion of younger demographics who typically consume the most sugary drinks. The local authorities in the East Midlands set to gain the most total savings and health benefits from a sugary drinks duty are (in order): Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Northampton – due partly to their larger population sizes.

CitizensUK, the alliance of local community organising groups, including groups in Nottingham, said:

“Across our member schools we are finding that increasing numbers of children are showing early signs of heart disease, diabetes and poor mental health. We are calling for a Children’s Health Fund to enable a step-change in early intervention. Since there is no spare money in the NHS, we are calling for a duty on sugary drinks, which will itself reduce diabetes and obesity.”

Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign:

“Public health directors in North West England and in Cardiff, as well as the London Health Commission, have publicly backed a sugary drinks duty. We hope this new research encourages public health directors in the East Midlands to join their counterparts in calling for the government to introduce a nationwide duty.”

Table 1: impact of a sugary drinks duty in the East Midlands

This table is in order of greatest health cost savings over a 20 year period

Area Name	Reduction in calories per day (av)	Estimated change in diabetes cases over 20 years	Estimated change in Stroke/CHD cases over 20 years	Estimated change in bowel cancer cases over 20 years	Estimated QALYs gained over 20 years	Total health cost savings over 20 years
Leicester UA	6.85	-276	-188	-49	4651	£1,683,949
Nottingham UA	6.80	-273	-186	-49	4597	£1,664,351
Derby UA	6.65	-221	-151	-40	3717	£1,345,912
Northampton CD	6.69	-196	-134	-35	3295	£1,192,963
Charnwood CD	6.58	-150	-103	-27	2531	£916,513
East Lindsey CD	6.04	-134	-91	-24	2257	£817,324
Ashfield CD	6.55	-130	-88	-23	2182	£790,051
South Kesteven CD	6.44	-124	-84	-22	2080	£753,190
Amber Valley CD	6.45	-118	-81	-21	1989	£720,254
Erewash CD	6.48	-117	-79	-21	1961	£710,139
Hinckley and Bosworth CD	6.45	-109	-74	-19	1832	£663,285
Bassetlaw CD	6.49	-108	-74	-19	1814	£656,805
Newark and Sherwood CD	6.45	-106	-72	-19	1777	£643,545
Gedling CD	6.45	-106	-72	-19	1777	£643,496
Chesterfield CD	6.48	-105	-72	-19	1768	£640,017
Mansfield CD	6.52	-101	-69	-18	1697	£614,280
North Kesteven CD	6.37	-100	-68	-18	1678	£607,532
Broxtowe CD	6.44	-99	-68	-18	1667	£603,609
North East Derbyshire CD	6.31	-99	-67	-18	1658	£600,136
Blaby CD	6.50	-94	-64	-17	1576	£570,670
North West Leicestershire CD	6.52	-89	-60	-16	1492	£540,194
Kettering CD	6.57	-87	-60	-16	1470	£532,231
South Derbyshire CD	6.65	-86	-59	-15	1453	£526,160
High Peak CD	6.54	-86	-58	-15	1440	£521,302
South Holland CD	6.26	-85	-58	-15	1438	£520,477
East Northamptonshire CD	6.61	-84	-57	-15	1407	£509,501
Lincoln CD	6.60	-84	-57	-15	1407	£509,378
Rushcliffe CD	6.46	-83	-56	-15	1391	£503,758
West Lindsey CD	6.36	-83	-56	-15	1389	£502,747
South Northamptonshire CD	6.54	-80	-55	-14	1347	£487,576
Bolsover CD	6.50	-80	-54	-14	1344	£486,762
Wellingborough CD	6.56	-80	-54	-14	1341	£485,579
Harborough CD	6.53	-74	-50	-13	1242	£449,793
Daventry CD	6.58	-73	-50	-13	1236	£447,389
Derbyshire Dales CD	6.30	-63	-43	-11	1054	£381,459
Boston CD	6.36	-61	-41	-11	1019	£368,856
Corby CD	6.72	-58	-39	-10	974	£352,527
Oadby and Wigston CD	6.49	-53	-36	-9	892	£322,810
Melton CD	6.47	-47	-32	-8	792	£286,674
Rutland UA	6.55	-32	-22	-6	540	£195,601
Totals	6.50	-4231	-2884	-756	71172	£25,768,796.00

Table 2: Top 25 local authorities in England with greatest calorie reduction

This table is ordered in order of greatest average calorie reduction per resident aged 4 years or older

Region	Area Name	Reduction in calories per day-mid	Estimated change in diabetes cases (over 20 years)	Estimated change in Stroke/CHD cases (over 20 years)	Estimated change in Cancer cases (over 20 years)	Estimated QALYs gained (over 20 years)	Total health cost savings (over 20 years) (£)
London	Newham LB	7.15	-256	-174	-46	4,298	1,556,226
London	Tower Hamlets LB	7.02	-173	-118	-31	2,911	1,054,143
South East	Slough UA	6.98	-115	-79	-21	1,942	703,040
London	Hackney LB	6.96	-191	-130	-34	3,212	1,162,809
London	Barking and Dagenham LB	6.95	-188	-128	-34	3,160	1,144,284
London	Haringey LB	6.92	-187	-127	-33	3,141	1,137,261
North West	Manchester MCD	6.89	-404	-275	-72	6,788	2,457,657
East of England	Luton UA	6.88	-194	-132	-35	3,266	1,182,464
London	Waltham Forest LB	6.87	-209	-142	-37	3,512	1,271,556
London	Brent LB	6.86	-237	-162	-42	3,986	1,443,318
London	Lambeth LB	6.86	-235	-160	-42	3,952	1,431,049
North West	Blackburn with Darwen UA	6.86	-134	-91	-24	2,251	815,170
London	Southwark LB	6.86	-258	-176	-46	4,337	1,570,138
London	Greenwich LB	6.86	-203	-138	-36	3,414	1,235,986
London	Redbridge LB	6.86	-227	-155	-41	3,813	1,380,657
East Midlands	Leicester UA	6.85	-276	-188	-49	4,651	1,683,949
West Midlands	Birmingham MCD	6.84	-1,049	-715	-188	17,651	6,390,832
London	Lewisham LB	6.84	-250	-170	-45	4,205	1,522,340
South East	Milton Keynes UA	6.84	-231	-157	-41	3,884	1,406,256
London	Hounslow LB	6.83	-184	-126	-33	3,102	1,123,191
London	Ealing LB	6.82	-227	-155	-41	3,821	1,383,283
South East	Bracknell Forest UA	6.82	-106	-72	-19	1,788	647,225
Yorkshire and The Humber	Bradford MCD	6.82	-500	-341	-89	8,411	3,045,486
London	Enfield LB	6.80	-264	-180	-47	4,444	1,608,894
East Midlands	Nottingham UA	6.80	-273	-186	-49	4,597	1,664,351

Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is a measure of the state of health of a person in which the benefits, in terms of length of life, are adjusted to reflect the quality of life. One QALY is equal to 1 year of life in perfect health. It is often measured in terms of the person's ability to perform the activities of daily life, free from pain and mental disturbance.

The Children's Food Campaign is a campaign of Sustain the alliance for better food and farming.

Full data sources and methodology can be viewed at www.childrenshealthfund.org.uk

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Sustain CEO nominated for Food Hero award

Malcolm Clark
Former Campaign Coordinator for the Children's Food Campaign. Malcolm Clark has now left Sustain.

Malcolm Clark was co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, beginning in January 2012. He has worked for, and run, a number of campaign organisations, on issues ranging from fair trade, to fair votes to a fair and more equal society. Malcolm is a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth, and sits on the Council’s Planning Applications Committee. He was part of the team for Lambeth’s successful Food Flagship Borough bid, and now sits on the project advisory board for the initiative. He has a Masters in British Parliamentary Politics and is an alumni of the British Council's Interaction Leadership programme. Malcolm is an NGO representative on Public Health England’s Nutrient Profiling Model Reference Group.

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