Study: Junk food tax could make us healthier
As the cost of soda and pizza increases, adults eat less of the bad stuff, bringing down their weight, according to the study appearing in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine.
It's not the first medical study to conclude a soda tax could cut obesity. This one studied the eating habits of some 5,115 adults over more than 20 years to find out the impact of increasing prices of junk food on their health.
The conclusions: an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda could result in a decrease of nearly 56 calories per person per day. That could mean the loss of 5 lbs per person per year and a reduction of obesity-related diseases, the authors write.
It's a persuasive argument, especially considering that the price of soda has decreased over two decades while the price of milk has increased, the authors note. Meanwhile, the obesity epidemic has soared.
An accompanying editorial draws parallels with the tobacco industry, suggesting that the money gained from taxing soda and junk food could help fund healthy eating campaigns and even promote the benefits of regular ol (not to mention, free) tap water.
Still, the study has some limitations and there are many foes of taxing sodas and junk food.
The authors suggest the study would be stronger if it focused on more kinds of food. And of course, there could be other reasons for the modest lost in weight, notably the people chosen to participate in the study could be more motivated than the rest of us grease-and-sugar-loving Americans.
That said, the editorial by Dr. Mitchell H. Katz and Dr. Rajiv Bahatia of the San Francisco Department of Public Health makes the case that a sin tax on bad food isn't out of the realm of possibility in a country that offers food subsidies for things like corn.
Baltimore Sun photo
Besides adding surcharges to unhealthful foods, we should also consider the more positive side of the coin, food subsidies. Sadly, we are currently subsidizing the wrong things including the production of corn, which makes the corn syrup in sweetened beverages so inexpensive. Evidence suggests that lowering the price of fruits and vegetables would increase their consumption among youth. Therefore, our agricultural subsidies should be used to make healthful foods such as locally grown vegetables, fruits, and whole grains less expensive.