The calls for the New Zealand government to echo the UK's ban on sugary fizzy drinks is not being supported by Tauranga life coach and author Leigh Elder, who says the science on taxing things is not convincing.

'We don't think making selected food and drinks unpopular is the right way to go,” says Leigh.

The UK's new sugar tax could prove a tipping point internationally.

Leigh is the author of Eat For Keeps, and helps people through weight and diabetes issues with education about nutrition.

'Our stance is, if you go into a supermarket with 30,000 different food and drink items they are all biologically safe. So what our view is we want people to learn how to actually manage their way around there, make the right choices.

'We are very much in the knowledge is power camp. That worked really effectively for us.”

While raising taxes on sugary drinks could be useful, the bottom line is what have people learned? Says Leigh.

But the issue has raised awareness.

'It's a pretty big thing and Jamie Oliver's done well.”

Chef Jamie Oliver is been a key player in the campaign calling on the British Government to announce the tax on sugary drinks, the proceeds of which is says will be spent on children's sport.

Fizzy drinks: more than a spoonful of sugar.

The UK Government outlines plans in the 2016 budget this week to 'introduce a new soft drinks industry levy to help tackle childhood obesity, by incentivising companies to reduce the sugar in the drinks they sell, to fund a doubling of the primary schools sports premium to £320 million per year from September 2017.”

The Science Media Centre has collected comments from a number of experts.

"We (health professionals/researchers and FIZZ (Fighting Sugar in soft Drinks) see this move as very positive and think it will make the possibility of a similar tax being introduced far more likely here in NZ,” says Senior Research Fellow, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Dr Gerhard Sundborn.

"It is great to see the UK government being bold and showing strong leadership. It signals that obesity as an issue in the UK is being taken seriously by addressing it with meaningful policy.

"We hope this will encourage our government to follow suit."

Professor Tony Blakely, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, says the UK tax recognises that we have transitioned to a world where obesity is a major public health threat, and that society needs to take collective action to alter its direction of travel.

'The tax will lower sugary drink consumption, not only through a ‘signal' to consumer pockets, but also by changing industry behaviour,” says Tony.

'It is all well and good to promote individual choice and responsibility – this matters. But so does ‘resetting' the food landscape to be healthier.”

Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere, Senior Research Fellow, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, says the UK tax might even prove to be a tipping point to get more similar actions happening internationally.

Dr Simon Thornley, Epidemiologist at Auckland Regional Public Health Service, says sugar needs to be treated like tobacco with progressive tax increases.

'The situation in NZ is very similar to the UK with high levels of childhood and adult obesity. As well as limiting weight gain, this tax is likely to lead to major savings on children's dental health,” says Simon.