Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Population Health Outcomes

Abstract

In 2014, Mexico became the first country in the Americas to tax the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) industry, sparking a cascade of SSB excise taxes in the US 1 and globally. 2 Rigorous evaluations have demonstrated that Mexico's SSB tax increased SSB prices and reduced purchasing 3 and consumption. 4 Evaluations in at least 5 US jurisdictions and 7 countries have also demonstrated that these taxes reduce SSB sales and purchases. Consequently, SSB taxes are expected to result in improvements in population health in the years that follow (eg, lower incidence of conditions associated with SSB consumption, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes). However, data on the health impacts of SSB taxes are limited. One study of Mexico's tax detected a lower probability of dental caries following tax implementation. 5 This issue of JAMA Pediatrics includes an important addition to our understanding of tax health effects. The study by Gračner et al 6 is the first, to our knowledge, to examine associations between an SSB tax and weight-related outcomes, finding lower risk of excess weight among adolescents, particularly for girls, in cities with larger price increases after the tax.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Depressive and Social Anxiety Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents Aged 7–17 Years, Stratified by Body Composition

“…First, governments around the world should implement the SSB taxes, since SSB taxes introduced in jurisdictions appeared to have been effective in reducing SSB purchases and intake ( 45 ). Importantly, tax-induced price increases of SSB were associated with reductions in excess weight, especially for adolescent girls ( 46 ). However, whether these taxes achieve public health objectives depends, in part, on the extent to which beverage prices increase, known as tax pass-through.…”

Why we struggle to make progress in obesity prevention and how we might overcome policy inertia: Lessons from the complexity and political sciences

“…21 This study used a complex systems approach to understand why public health policies that target obesogenic environments often fail to gain political support, despite evidence they are effective for combatting obesity. [22][23][24][25][26] A complex system is a multitude of interdependent elements within a connected whole, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 27 Complexity science offers systematic ways to illuminate all parts and interrelations of the system at once, to uncover unintended consequences of well-intentioned but illconsidered interventions.…”

“…This study used a complex systems approach to understand why public health policies that target obesogenic environments often fail to gain political support, despite evidence they are effective for combatting obesity 22–26 . A complex system is a multitude of interdependent elements within a connected whole, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts 27 .…”

Sugar-sweetened beverage intake and long-term mortality in individuals with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a longitudinal analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database

“…Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) refers to any beverage with added sugar [1]. SSBs have been described as ‘liquid candy’, and are among the leading sources of added sugars in the American diet.…”