What does the new sugar tax mean?
From today, the UK's tax on sugary drinks such as coca-cola, fanta, and lucozade, will mean that shoppers are paying an extra 18p or 24p per litre depending on how much sugar the drink contains.
The introduction of the tax is an attempt to reduce obesity, especially within children and teens, by making people pay more for unhealthy products.
When the sugar tax - known officially as the soft drinks industry levy - was first announced, companies already began altering their recipes as fears of consumer decline became apparent.
In January, the iconic Scottish drink Irn Bru actually stopped producing their full-sugar version, causing people to stock-pile the product before it leaves supermarket shelves.
Supermarket chains such as Tesco, Asda and Morrisons have also altered the recipes of their own-brand drinks so they contain less than 5g of sugar and are therefore below the threshold for the levy.
There are two bands of taxation for sugary drinks:
Drinks containing 5g - 8g of added sugar per 100ml will be taxed 18p per litre
Drinks containing 8g of added sugar or more will be taxed 24p per litre
The average 330ml can of coca-cola contains 35g of sugar, which the Inews reports will result in an extra 8p increase per can for the company.
The government has said that the money raised from this tax will will go towards funding sports and breakfast clubs for children, although the initial predicted sum of £500million raised by the tax has now been reduced to a prediction of £275million per year.
