No matter how the public health activists and lawmakers spin it, there is no quick-fix solution to obesity. Here at Sip & Savor, we’ve often talked about how taxing a common grocery item like beverages will not make anyone healthier.

The Globe and Mail editorial board agrees that we can’t tax our way to better health.

“There is no magic bullet of the kind beloved by diet gurus – an approach now recognized as ineffective through past governments’ demonizing of saturated fat, which led to the increased consumption of low-fat, high-carbohydrate processed foods directly associated with the modern obesity trend,” wrote the editorial board.

That’s right. Government and public health activists got it wrong with fat and cholesterol in the past. And we now know that by singling out one food or nutrient causes more harm than good. At the end, discriminatory policies do nothing to improve health and instead distract people from the need to come up with real solutions to complex public health challenges like obesity.

Instead of going after policies that are ineffective and regressive, lawmakers should stick with what science says does work – education. It all comes down to providing people with information and choices they need to help them achieve a balanced lifestyle.