GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 331
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Many manufactured food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, which causes many health problems. Sugary products should be made more expensive to encourage people to consume less sugar.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Obesity and serious diseases like diabetes and heart diseases are attributed to the increased intake of drinks and foods that are sugar-packed. To tackle the deteriorating public health condition and to make sure children grow up with a proper diet plan, I think that people should be motivated, and in some cases forced, to reduce their sugary food and beverage intake. So, I agree that the price of those sugary items should be made expensive to tackle the situation.
Sugary drinks and foods are hugely popular among all age groups. Since sugar is addictive, we crave it even more. For example, children who eat candies, want to have more. So we need to motivate people to reduce their daily sugar intake while also increasing the price so that they do not opt for more. Many research and survey work outline that when the price of a particular item increases, its consumption proport6ionately decreases.
Moreover, those sugary food and drinks are cheap and are available all around us. In many Western countries, restaurants offer free refills on sodas because they are cheap. As a result, customers tend to have two or even three sodas at a meal. If those sodas are made expensive through high taxes, many customers probably would not order one at all, let alone have multiple ones. An initiative like this could be extremely effective in preventing obesity among low-income people since many of them are high consumers of cheap sugar-sweetened foods and beverages.
To conclude, considering the addictive nature of sugar-packed foods and drinks and their tolls on public health and the healthcare budget, it is quite rational to increase their price to reduce their consumption.