Studies & Reports
New Zealand Health Ministry reports finds that evidence of sugar taxes improving health is weak
On 30 January 2018, a report from Peter Wilson and Sarah Hogan, commissioned by the Ministry of Health of New Zealand to review the evidence around the efficiency of sugar taxes. It concluded that evi...
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German Food Minister Schmidt says no to UK-style Sugar Tax
According to an article from Die Welt, the Federal Minister for Food, Christian Schmidt (CSU) rejects a tax on sugary drinks based on the model announced by the British Government on March 16 2016....
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Mixed reactions to new study on Mexican sugar tax
A new study on the effects of the Mexican tax on sugar sweetened beverages published in the medical journal ‘The BMJ’ has triggered different reactions among experts, after finding a 6% drop in...
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Dutch experts question sugar tax effects on health
When asked to comment on Jamie Oliver’s controversial ‘sugar tax’, Dutch experts expressed their doubts regarding the efficacy of such measure when it comes to improving public health. A tax...
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Australian Beverages Council replies to calls for ‘soda tax’ providing evidence on its ineffectiveness and unfairness
Like many other countries, Australia is looking for the best solution to tackle the growing problem of obesity. As many are asking for a tax on certain products, including soft drinks, the Australian...
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New report shows Berkeley Soda Tax is poorly transmitted to consumer prices
In January 2015, the city of Berkeley (United States, California) introduced a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages at a rate of one-cent-per-ounce with the clear objective of lowering consumption of thet...
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WHO Europe paper on pricing policies to promote healthier diets miss
On 23 March 2015, WHO Europe released a paper called "Using price policies to promote healthier diets". Although the paper acknowledges that broader effects of HFSS taxes, such as product substitu...
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Focus on fitness not fatness – Why food taxes are missing the point
Researcher at the University of Essex, children’s fitness expert Dr. Gavin Sandercock writes in BBC news that we have been looking at obesity the wrong way, leaving the harm generated by physical in...
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France’s Les Echos: “Food taxation should not be a punitive tool”
Who has not heard of the Nutella tax? An amendment to the 2013 French budget law foresaw an increased levy on palm oil that received the nickname "Nutella Tax". After being voted in the Senate, it was...
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Trade media comments on “The Fat Lie”
Obesity caused mainly by inactivity, not by sugar Foodmanufacture.co.uk by Laurence Gibbons Public health campaigners have attributed Britain's obesity epidemic to increased availability of junk...
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The fat lie: Britain’s rising obesity unmasked
New research suggests the UK's rise in obesity has not been caused by, as many have suggested, high-fat foods and sugary drinks but by a lack of physical activity. Conducted by the Institute...
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Kids need self-reliance, not spoon-feeding
Matthew Syed, British journalist, three-time Commonwealth table tennis champion and a two-time Olympian, was recently at a school in south London to open a new table tennis club. The school was “ma...
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EC study finds Impact of food taxes on public health inconclusive and contradictory
The European Commission study into the impact of food taxes on consumption and competitiveness in the agri-food sector was published on 16 July. It aims to support policy making by gathering informati...
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Belgian authorities lack appetite for food tax
Is the food tax becoming an important weapon in the fight against obesity? Such a prospect is not yet on the cards in Belgium. A study at the University of Ghent has found little enthusiasm among poli...
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Labour says no to a tax on high-sugar food and drink
Shadow health minister Luciana Berger this week ruled out the possibility of a Labour government imposing additional taxes on fizzy drinks and other high-sugar products. In an exclusive interv...
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Fast food accounts for ‘minority of calories’ but gets all the focus
Hunger the ‘least important’ factor in determining what we eat Fast-food and soft drinks account for “a minority” of calories we consume but we focus on those items while ignoring foods suc...
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Seeder: Estonia not ready for sugar tax
Helir-Valdor Seeder, Minister of Agriculture is of the opinion that Estonian society is not ready to support a separate tax on excessively salty, sweet or fatty food products. People’s awareness...
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A tax on fatty foods makes no one thin
Do taxes on certain foods really work to decrease obesity levels? Real-life models are proving this hard to stomach. For one, the Danish tax on saturated fat was abolished last November, and the Hunga...
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‘To combat obesity, they say…’
'...To micro-manage our lives, more like,' says Dr Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute regarding a proposed tax on fizzy drinks. In his blog post, Butler is adamant that taxing sugary drinks is...
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Fat taxes in the EU: between fiscal austerity and the fight against obesity
Alemanno, Alberto & Carreño, Ignacio, 2011. “Fat taxes in the EU between fiscal austerity and the fight against obesity”, European Journal of Risk Regulation 4, 2011 This essay pro...
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European Union public opinion on policy measures to address childhood overweight and obesity
The study gathered data to examine whether differences in public opinion about policy options to fight the obesity problem exist among EU countries, and shows that there was little support for i...
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