We could increasingly see big brother taxes on food to persuade us what to eat. Applying a so called 'Fat Tax' to unhealthy foods changes peoples buying habits and persuades them to buy more healthy options, so says a study lead by Buffalo Uni in New York. UK academics have also suggested that 3,000 deaths could be avoided if the government were to apply a targetted Fat Tax.

Researchers reporting in the US Journal of Nutrition found that by increasing pricing on high calorie foods mothers aged between 25-50 switched their choice to low calorie alternatives. One striking anomaly found was that if the customer was already obese then the price increase did not have any effect, they would continue to buy the high calorie foods.

As obesity levels rise in western populations the idea of a fat tax was first written of in 2004 by The Times (UK) in an article suggesting that the government was considering that foods including pizza, burgers, pastry and chocolate should be subject to increased taxes.