๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ: ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐: ๐๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ด๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ !
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 :
๐ more than 50 countries/jurisdictions have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages
๐ 18 countries have taxed foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS)
๐๐ฒ๐ฝ kudos to Mexico for being a leader in this field, both in terms of regulation and studying the impact thereof to further fine-tune.
(๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ: ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข-๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ).
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:
1๏ธ Using taxes to reduce unhealthy food purchase works.
2๏ธ Higher tax rates are more effective than lower rates in reducing sales and intake: Go Big or Go Home.
3๏ธ Low-income groups are more responsive to tax effects: that's good for health, not for the household budget (and food inequity).
4๏ธ In turn, subsidies on healthy food for low income populations, may compensate this food inequity.
5๏ธ To enable a positive nutritional impact, such fiscal policies must:
โ
be broadly applied,
โ
used in combination with other measures to modify the environment we shop in: marketing control, restricting availability of unhealthy food, etc.
Full articles:
๐ Taxes focusing on unhealthy UPFs vs subsidising minimally processed foods (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074937972400076X
โ๐ Taxes focusing on UPFs vs subsidising fruit & veg (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522001289
โ๐ 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
โIn the words of Dr Pineda "๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐น๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ."โ
