As the obesity epidemic rages on, the need for awareness about healthy lifestyle choices increases. In 2016, the U.K. implanted a soda tax in an effort to help reduce sales of sugary drinks — a major factor in the obesity epidemic. Several U.S. cities have also implemented a soda tax of their own, in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Colorado. A recent study looked into the effectiveness of the tax, to determine whether or not it should be more widely implemented.
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Based on modeling from the U.K. soda tax, researchers determined that adding a 20% tax to sweets such as cookies, chocolate and cake would decrease consumer purchase of these sugary foods, and ultimately result in reduced caloric intake. The study showed that regular snackers could lose 0.5 Body Mass Index points — the equivalent to about 3 or 4 pounds for a person who is 6 feet tall.
This tax isn’t the first of its kind — re: the tobacco tax. Tobacco taxes have helped decrease tobacco use — likewise, could a sugar tax really reduce unhealthy food consumption and help address the obesity epidemic?
Last year, in an unprecedented and calculated move, the American Beverage Association spent $7 million to put a restrictive initiative on the California ballot, then offered to pull it if the legislature would ban taxes on soda for 12 years. They then moved to the state Legislature in hopes of enacting similar laws across to country to protect their profits. The move banded medical and dental associations in California together. They’re now working on an initiative for the 2020 ballot, which would allow cities to make their own determination about soda taxes.
There’s no doubt that soda and other sugary drinks have had an impact on the spike in obesity over the past few decades, as well as plenty of other health issues. Sugar changes your metabolism and hides under many different names in processed food and drinks. The sugar industry has long known consumption leads to poor health but hid incriminating data to protect their profits. However, it’s up to you to take control of your health by making smart nutritional choices and eliminating or severely limiting processed foods in your diet.