The alarming prediction released this week by the International Diabetes Federation, that half of the Saudi population will be diabetic by 2030 if precautionary measures are not taken now, was truly frightening. Already 24 percent of Saudis have the disease, and 31 out of 100 children in the Kingdom between the ages of 10 and 14 have type I diabetes.

The reasons are not hard to see. We are an increasingly overweight nation, with Saudi Arabia ranking third most obese country in the Gulf according to statistics of the foundation. Lack of physical activity, overeating and eating the wrong foods all contribute to this epidemic of obesity and diabetes. 36 percent of the population is overweight, with 18 percent of children classified as obese. Half of these children are also diabetic.

This brings me to the need to tax sugary drinks in the Kingdom. The Ministry of Health along with the Shoura Council should look into implementing measures to do this as quickly as possible since it is the excessive consumption of cheap fizzy drinks that has contributed to a worldwide explosion in obesity and diabetes in both children and adults. A 355-ml can of a fizzy drink typically has 39 grams of sugar, or 9 1/3 teaspoons of sugar! That is over the daily total amount of sugar that an adult is supposed to consume and remain healthy. According to the American Heart Association, the maximum daily intake allowance of sugar for women is 25 grams (6 teaspoons) and 38 grams (9 teaspoons) for men.

Fizzy, sugary soft drinks in Saudi Arabia are very cheap and are advertised all over the place. Taxing them would raise their price and therefore discourage the population at large from drinking so many of them. I know of many Saudi children who will only drink colas, because that is what they are used to and have become addicted to. They don’t want to drink water or milk, which is a shame since both are much healthier than fizzy drinks. For sure, a tax on fizzy drinks will face stiff resistance from the drinks manufacturing lobby, but the government must be firm and face them down. After all, it is the health and lives of Saudis that are being put at risk from being overweight and becoming diabetic.

Soda taxes are not a new idea. Norway and Denmark have had soft drink taxes for decades, France introduced one in 2012 and Mexico passed a soda and junk food tax in October 2013 despite intense lobbying by the Mexican sugarcane industry and soft drink multinationals. The former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has been a strong proponent of a soda tax, and after failing to get one passed in New York City, was accused of supporting the Mexican initiative. He also spent $650,000 of his money to help pass a bill in the city of Berkeley in California that places a sin tax on soda of a penny-per-ounce. The new measure comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2016 and will be shouldered by soft drink distributors. Prices of sugary soft drinks are expected to increase by 10 percent, with all diet sodas exempted from the new tax since they do not contain any sugar.

Of course, apart from taxing sugary drinks to discourage their overconsumption, the Saudi educational system needs to get involved in the nutritional education of Saudi children both through classroom instruction and in making sure that the food that is either served in cafeterias or sold in snack bars is healthy and affordable. Soft drinks and junk food such as French fries, hamburgers, potato chips and sweets should be banned from school premises, with students offered healthier food choices instead.

The government should also encourage all Saudis to eat much less fast food and go for home cooked meals, which are balanced. A burger or some fried chicken in moderation once in a while is okay, but making a daily habit out of it is definitely not healthy. We need to look in the mirror and realize that the food that we think tastes the best and is the easiest to buy is never the healthiest. We need to reverse this path to obesity and diabetes that so many Saudis are on. Taxing sugary drinks is a good place to begin at.

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The writer is a Saudi journalist based in Brazil.