Governments in the United States and United Kingdom are waging a war on sugar in the interests of public health. Both countries claim that the over consumption of sugar by much of the population is detrimental to people's well-being. On Thursday, the U.S. government issued new dietary guidelines that strongly recommend people receive less than 10 per cent of their daily calorie intake from added sugar. On the same day, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he has not ruled out the idea of a tax on sugar to encourage consumers to buy food with reduced levels of the sweet stuff. Politicians in the U.K. are debating how a reduction in the intake of sugar could help alleviate Britain's rising rates of obesity.