Philly Soda Tax

900 residents participated in a survey both before and after the soda tax was implemented. Researchers found that residents were 40% less likely to drink sugary obesity and diabetes promoting soda, and 60% less likely to drink energy drinks each day. When this tax went into place 58% became more likely to drink bottled water every day.

Should distributors decide to pass the tax onto the customers fully it could increase the price of soda and energy drinks about 20%. A price increase of this magnitude could influence consumers to stop purchasing these unhealthy non-essential items like sugary soda and energy drinks which contribute to obesity and diabetes, and possibly get them to switch to lower priced beverages which may be more healthy like bottled water, says Yichen Zhong. Results of this study are in line and support it.

Impacts of the tax on stores that sell the beverages since the levy was implemented in 2017 were focused on in prior studies. This is the first known study to investigate whether the diets of residents had changed, measuring consumption rather than sales, meaning this study can more accurately assess health impacts from the tax. Looking at consumption of unhealthy sugar drinks daily is important as health professionals use it as an indicator of unhealthy levels of intake.

It was noted that sugary fruit drinks such as Sunny Delight and Snapple were not seen to have consumption decline despite the fact that they were also taxed. Researchers were not able to be assessed whether this was because retailers did not raise prices for fruit drinks, or whether people decided to pay more. Mistakenly fruit drinks may be seen as healthier than soda despite having the same as or even more amounts of added sugars.

Growing bodies of evidence, pun intended, support that extra calories consumed from sugary beverages are connected to weight gain and diabetes. Increased tooth decay, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes has been linked to frequent consumption of sugary beverages. 30% of Philadelphians have at least one sugary beverage each day, any kind of cut could be impactfully beneficial.

The first two months of the tax were focussed on in this study. It was noted that it is still too soon to tell whether or not the tax will have lasting impacts, but there is evidence from elsewhere which indicates that it might. Mexico imposed a sugary beverage tax 2 years ago in which drops in soda consumption has been maintained. This tax needs to be implemented everywhere as a measure to fight the growing obesity epidemic.