The effects of soft drink taxes on child and adolescent consumption

The paper investigates the potential for soft drink taxes to combat rising levels of child and adolescent obesity through a reduction in consumption. The results show that soft drinks taxation leads to a moderate reduction in soft drink consumption, but that this reduction is offset by increases in consumption of other high-calorie drinks. Some key insights from the paper:

• “[…] soft drink taxes do not appear to have countered the rise in obesity prevalence because any reduction in soft drink consumption has been offset by the consumption of other calories. Cast in this light, the revenue generation and health benefits of soft drink taxes appear to be weaker than expected.”

You can find the whole paper here.