A sweetened beverage tax is needed to combat the obesity epidemicas well as related absenteeism and presenteeism.

The health consequences of obesity are well known. Obesity is the leading predisposing factor to the development of type 2 diabetes. A study released by Nevious and colleagues from Sweden on February 24, 2009, in the British Medical Journal has highlighted the danger of being obese.1 These investigators reported that obesity increases the risk of premature death at the same rate as cigarette smoking. Among 45,000 men whose health was monitored for 38 years, being overweight at the age of 18 was found to be equivalent to being a regular smoker in terms of the risk of dying relatively early in life from preventable diseases.