Nutritional Traffic Light Labeling and Taxation on Unhealthy Food Products in Iran: Health Policies to Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases

摘要

The latest official report on the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iran (2014) reveals that NCDs are accounted for 76% of total deaths in the country, of which, an estimated 46% is due to coronary heart disease and cardiovascular diseases (1). It is believed that obesity and being overweight are the main risk factors for NCDs. The most likely causes of being overweight and obesity are low physical activity and imbalanced intake of different food groups (2). In order to increase healthy food intakes and to improve the dietary patterns, 2 main policies have been adopted by the ministry of health and medical education (MOHME) in Iran; the first one is the article no. 37 in the 5th national development plan (2011 - 2016), which bans advertising unhealthy goods and services (3). In 2015, this policy was updated by revision of the government's financial regulations, and a maximum tax of 10% was imposed to unhealthy goods and services (4). The list of unhealthy food products is published by the MOHME on a yearly basis. There has been resistance and complaints from food industries and their associations with regards to this policy in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, the proposed taxation of unhealthy foods has not been run yet due to the unavailability of a number of prerequisites, as well as the mandatory nature of this approach. Another policy in this regard has been the taxation of soft drinks. The Iranian Budget Law for the fiscal year 2013 - 2014 has obligated the government for the taxation of soft drinks at a rate of 15% and 20% for locally produced and imported goods, respectively. This tax should be paid by producers and importers, instead of consumers. Most of the studies showed that taxation on soft drinks had a protective effect on obesity and being overweight among adolescents and children (5). Unfortunately, this policy, however, has not brought the desired effects. Therefore, according to the preliminary results, the taxation of unhealthy food products has not worked as it was initially expected. On the other hand, reports showed that placing a limitation on advertising unhealthy food products was also unsuccessful in Iran. Etemad et al. reported that, within a 30-day period (from January 20 to February 3 and from August 23 to September 6, 2013), 612 cases of unhealthy food products (based on the list published by the MOHME) were advertised in 4 main Iranian official TV Channels (6).