More Comparisons of Food and Tobacco Made

Venture capitalist and physician Mitchell Blutt, writing for Forbes.com, suggests that the rising cost of health care will lead inexorably to the stigmatization of unhealthy foods as the “new tobacco.” According to Blutt, unhealthy food will one day be “publicly identified as an addictive problem and perhaps even some day, deemed a drug.” He believes that government will likely impose taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages, described as those high in calories, such as soft drinks and snacks. He calls the “scientific data demonstrating the health hazards of excessively sugared beverages in children” compelling. But, while he acknowledges that “sin taxes” will reduce consumption of unhealthy foods, he does not believe that these trends will reduce the chronic diseases associated with obesity and poor diet. “That’s generations off,” he concludes. See Forbes.com, October 6, 2009.