London — In British supermarkets these days, there's a war being waged against sugar, with the U.K. this week extending its sugar tax to some coffee drinks and milkshakes in an ongoing effort to fight obesity.

"Actually, in the U.K., it's the main reason why children would be admitted to hospital," Dr. Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist who lobbied the U.K. government to levy a tax on sugary drinks, told CBS News of the sugar crisis.

"If you want to look at making a big impact on the population, well, where is it coming from?" Hashem said. "It was quite clear, the biggest contributor was soft drinks, so let's start with soft drinks."

The British tax went into effect in 2018, up to 30 cents per liter for 8 grams or more of sugar per 100 milliliters, depending on the drink's sugar content.

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