This wasn’t about cutting sugar consumption. It was about inverse subsidizing bioengineered chemicals in food by taxing the shit out of those producing foods with cane sugar.

A similar feat was performed for a different purpose in the US in the 1980s when they landed an oppressive tariff on imported cane sugar to promote the use of mercury-laden high fructose corn syrup.

If you want more of something, subsidize it. If you want less of something, tax it.

Example - UK Fanta drink ingredients

Before was sweetened just by sugar, now it's this:

Carbonated Water, Sugar, Orange Juice From Concentrate (3.7%), Citrus Fruit From Concentrate (1.3%), Acids (Citric Acid, Malic Acid), Vegetable Extracts (Carrot, Pumpkin), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrates), Stabiliser (Guar Gum), Natural Orange Flavourings With Other Natural Flavourings, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid).

In this large cohort of 102,865 French adults, the study found that intake of artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame and acesulfame-K) was associated with increased overall cancer risk for higher consumers than non-consumers. More specifically, they found that aspartame intake was associated with increased breast and obesity-related cancer risks.

https://www.cuddles.institute/post/aspartame-and-acesulfame-k-intake-and-cancer-risk

What was before an unhealthy sugary drink, now is a bioweapon.