𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸: 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗲𝘀: 𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 !
Studies on the efficiency of fiscal measures to curb unhealthy food purchase, ultimately focused at chronic disease and well-being, are sprouting like mushrooms lately, focusing both on ultra-process foods (UPFs) and High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS).
By the way, it's not just theory :
👉 more than 50 countries/jurisdictions have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages
👉 18 countries have taxed foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS)
👏🇲🇽 kudos to Mexico for being a leader in this field, both in terms of regulation and studying the impact thereof to further fine-tune.
(𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢-𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸).
This has had much less spotlight than labeling, but it certainly looks like we are onto something. Here are our 5 take-away messages from several recent studies published:
1️ Using taxes to reduce unhealthy food purchase works.
2️ Higher tax rates are more effective than lower rates in reducing sales and intake: Go Big or Go Home.
3️ Low-income groups are more responsive to tax effects: that's good for health, not for the household budget (and food inequity).
4️ In turn, subsidies on healthy food for low income populations, may compensate this food inequity.
5️ To enable a positive nutritional impact, such fiscal policies must:
✅ be broadly applied,
✅ used in combination with other measures to modify the environment we shop in: marketing control, restricting availability of unhealthy food, etc.
Full articles:
🔗 Taxes focusing on unhealthy UPFs vs subsidising minimally processed foods (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074937972400076X
🔗 Taxes focusing on UPFs vs subsidising fruit & veg (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522001289
🔗 Meta-analysis on health taxes on foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (incl USA, Mexico, Denmark, Hungary, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919224000101
In the words of Dr Pineda "𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦."
