■ WHAT’S NEW
IN HEALTHCARE LITERATURE Should nurses be expected to live healthy lifestyles? ■ Stephen-Haynes, J. (2016). Should community nurses be
expected to live healthy lifestyles? Journal of Community Nursing, 30(1), 8-9.
We all know that excess sugar is detrimental to optimal health. That being said, is it right for the government to step in parens patriae and impose a sugar tax in an effort to curtail consumption of sugary foods and beverages? A recent study showed minority and low-income residents of Berkeley, Calif., drank 21% less of the sugary stuff after the city implemented an excise tax. Researchers compared sugary drink sales in Berkeley from the 4-month period of April 2014 through July 2014 to a 5-month period the next year, just after the tax went into effect in March 2015. Berkeley was the first U.S. city to pass a soda tax, following a campaign funded in part by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While he was mayor, Bloomberg tried to ban large sodas in New York City starting in 2012, but the bid was overturned by New York State’s highest court in 2014. Nevertheless, backed by Bloomberg’s own funds, in June 2016, Philadelphia has gone even further, with a greater tax on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages. Mexico followed, and enacted its roughly 10% tax on sugary beverages in January 2014. An initial study led by the National Institute
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of Public Health of Mexico, published in November 2015, showed that soda consumption had dropped by as much as 12% in the year after the tax was implemented. With the recent successes in the reduction of the consumption of sugary foods and beverages noted in the literature, some countries are now asking if nurses should be expected to live healthy lifestyles. In particular, the British government is speculating on whether it is right for nurses to be held accountable for advising and educating patients on eating and lifestyle choices when they don’t lead by example in making those same choices. Additionally, the National Health Service in England is moving to impose a 20% sugar tax on all sugary drinks and foods in National Health Service cafes and vending machines in 2020. Nurses leading the way…Think about what that really means. What are your thoughts?
References Shanker, D. (2016, August 23). The nation’s first soda tax is working. Can its success last? Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg. com/news/articles/2016-08-23/the-nation-s-first-soda-tax-is-workingcan-its-success-last Vinton, K. (2016, November 9). Billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s $18 million helped soda tax measures win in San Francisco, Oakland. Forbes Billionaires. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/ sites/katevinton/2016/11/09/michael-bloomberg-scores-with-18million-on-measures-taxing-soda-in-san-francisco-oakland-thiselection/#ca02ab84294c
Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, Volume 45, Number 1
