Making Sugary Food and Drink Products More Expensive

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?

Annotated response

8 correction notes

Showing 8 correction notes.

Certain concerned citizens believe that prices should be raised to counter the high sugar content in various food and drink products. In my opinion, this solution may have a marginal reforms would engender greater progress.

Supporters of this policy argue that it has been effective in the past. The best known would be the high price of tobacco products in many nations. Countries where prices are low, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and India, have considerably compared to nations that have instituted heavy taxes. concerning food products in European nations where sugary and fatty foods are more expensive and there has been a concomitant marginal decline in consumption. However, the more striking realization from attempts to tax is that individuals are often willing to pay to satisfy their addictions and would rather sacrifice in other areas.

Therefore, superior solutions involve more holistic government action. This can be illustrated through policies in Japan. From a young age, children are fed healthy meals at school as well as at home, and the government has encouraged health awareness through a variety of programs and initiatives aimed at various demographics. The result is that sugary drinks and products have a place in society that is less prominent than in nations such as the United the culture centers on fast food, soda, and packaged meals. A more thoughtful approach should not be discounted simply because of the challenges posed by enacting and evaluating small steps that are aligned and enforced consistently over a period of years.

In conclusion, the immediate and largely ineffective fix offered by raising prices is not advisable compared with more long-term measures. Governments must therefore take a long view and communicate this clearly to the .

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 8.0

The strongest aspect is the sophisticated, well-developed argument, which presents a clear qualified position supported by relevant real-world examples such as tobacco taxation and Japanese health policy. The main limitation is that some arguments rely on broad generalisations, for example about national food cultures, that are asserted rather than substantiated.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Response

8.0

The response directly addresses the question with a clear, nuanced position that taxation is only marginally effective, and it develops both sides with relevant supporting examples across well-structured paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.5

Ideas progress logically with effective cohesive devices and clear referencing, though a few links, such as the opening framing and the transition into the final paragraph, are slightly overstated or loose.

Lexical Resource

8.0

Vocabulary is wide and precise, with natural use of items like corollary, concomitant, and engender, and only minor, non-impeding repetition such as repeated use of marginal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

8.0

A full range of complex structures is used with strong flexibility and control, including varied subordination and concise academic phrasing, with only rare minor slips.