Overweight and obesity prevalence in Australia shows that in 0 more Australians is obese today compared to 995. The pervasiveness of overweight and obesity has escalated among children and adults in all state and territories of Australia since 2007 (Huse et al., 208). In two decades, the percentage of Australians with a healthy body has decreased, and obese proportion has increased. The growing obesity trend has costly impacts for the individuals and the Australian economy and healthcare system (AIHW, 208). In Australia, because of overweight and obesity, diseases such as diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, oesophageal cancer, breast cancer, chronic kidney disease, and osteoarthritis are more prevalent. Obesity is a significant risk factor contributing to the development of diseases. If this risk factor is removed or reduced to the lowest possible exposure, diseases could be prevented (AIHW, 208a). Australian Government introduces a health levy on sugar beverages as an approach to decrease the rates of overweight and obesity which is an established risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, stroke and other certain cancers (Allen & Allen, 209).
High body mass index (BMI) and poor diet are now the most significant risk factors contributing to the disease in Australia, and it is ranked ahead of smoking and alcohol-related illness. There has been opposition view on taxing SSB which argue that the individual is responsible for making personal choices and adopting healthier lifestyles and that the Government should not interfere to influence decisions about what to buy and eat. The Government, on the other hand, has high obesity-related costs which include health and welfare costs, foregone tax revenue
and reduced productivity. Soft drink consumers do not compensate for additional energy from consumption of SSBΒs by reducing consumption of other foods, resulting in increased total energy intake. There is a substantial proportion of evidence that an increase in tax applied to tobacco raises the price, reducing consumption and saving lives. Public health advocates argue that imposing higher levies on SSB is in the interest of the society as a whole to reduce the burden that diet, obesity and relates diseases place on the health system and many individuals (Finkelstein et al., 203). According to, sociocultural point of view of globalization, it appears to play a crucial role with increased cases of obesity and overweight. Globalization processes and the trade and investment policies regulating them have been playing an essential role in making changes to the nutrition status of the population in high, middle and low-income countries. Trade openness contributes to shifts in dietary patterns, increasing dietary diversity and availability of cheap calories and fat reducing undernutrition. However, this is not sufficient to explain the increasing obesity. Foreign direct investment and global flows of information in Low and middle-class income population, including food marketing and advertisement also play a role in consumerism. Information flow and sociocultural aspects have an essential impact on dietary patterns, overweight, obesity and consumption of calories and fats, even dominating the effect of trade and investment flows. It could be exposure to globalized marketing, or it could reflect other lifestyle changes associated with the use of new communications technologies (Cuevas GarcΓΒa-Dorado et al., 209).