SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES AND OBESITY PREVENTION: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

摘要

We agree with Fletcher and his colleagues that preventing obesity requires a comprehensive approach and relying solely on a soda tax, particularly small taxes, will not be sufficient. However, we differ on the design of a tax; on the potential impact that a more targeted, sizable tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) can have on weight outcomes; and on the importance of such as tax as part of a comprehensive obesity prevention strategy. Fletcher and colleagues suggest a U-shaped relationship for the effectiveness of taxes on soda consumption as children age and the need for alternative policies such as vending machine bans or other restrictions on access during middle and late childhood. While policies targeting access may be complementary in reducing consumption, there is no empirical evidence to suggest that taxes would be less effective as children transition from childhood through adolescence. During childhood, it is likely that responsiveness would be fairly constant as governed by their parents' price sensitivity, but as adolescents gain more autonomy, their price sensitivity is likely to increase. We argue it is likely that the relationship between taxes and consumption would kink upward as children transition through childhood to adulthood, before falling during adulthood. Over the life cycle, we are likely to see an inverted U with a peak during the teenage and young adult years. Moreover, the heaviest teen consumers who are of most concern are likely to be more price sensitive, given that price changes will have a relatively greater impact on their limited budgets. Previous research that examined the relationship between fast food prices and body mass showed that heavier youths are substantially more price sensitive than their normal-weight counterparts (Auld & Powell, 2009). Higher price sensitivity during adolescence makes a compelling case for high taxes, given that teenagers consume a substantial volume of SSBs, youth is an important period for forming preferences and the time when food consumption patterns may become habitual, and their weight is shown to track into adulthood.