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Review
. 2018 Aug;77(3):314-320.
doi: 10.1017/S0029665117004165. Epub 2018 Jan 15.

Should we tax unhealthy food and drink?

Emma Smith  1 , Peter Scarborough  2 , Mike Rayner  2 , Adam D M Briggs  2
Affiliations
Review

Should we tax unhealthy food and drink?

Emma Smith et al. Proc Nutr Soc. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

The global burden of obesity leads to significant morbidity and has major economic implications. In April 2018, Britain will join a growing number of countries attempting to tackle this using fiscal measures when the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy is introduced. We review recent evidence from natural experiments of the impact of health-related food and drink taxes on consumer behaviour, and discuss the possible consequences of these approaches on purchases and health. We highlight some of the potential indirect consequences and the importance of robust prospective evaluation.

Keywords: SDIL Soft Drinks Industry Levy; Food and beverages; Public health; Taxes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

ADMB is a member of the Faculty of Public Health and the UK Health Forum. MR is Chair of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming and is a member of the UK Health Forum. These three organisations have position statements supporting taxes on sugar sweetened beverages. There are no other conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart illustrating how a health related food and drink tax might impact health (update of Figure 1 “Implicit framework for how food taxes may influence health”, with permission of Springer, from Mytton, Eyles and Ogilvie. Evaluating the health impacts of food and beverage taxes. Current Obesity Reports. 2014;3(4):432-439[16])
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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