soda tax

The portion of the U.S. population that is overweight or obese keeps growing larger - literally - and some experts say the "food environment" is a reason, says Vox, citing Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness. "[I]n America," says Kahan, "the unhealtiest foods are the tastiest foods, the cheapest foods, the largest-portion foods, the most available foods and the most fun foods."

The 21 percent decline in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) following implementation of a soda tax in Berkeley "has important public health implications, providing I think the strongest evidence so far that a tax would reduce SSB consumption," writes Parke Wilde, an associate professor at Tuft's Friedman School of Nutrition, at his blog U.S. Food Policy. The effect was found in a study published in the the American Journal of Public Health this month.

In a study of the Berkeley's first-in-the-nation soda tax, researchers found that lower-income residents had reduced their consumption by 21 percent, compared to the pre-tax days, the Los Angeles Times reported. The study, published Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at the impact of the tax in the first five months after it went into effect.

In two generations, Brazil, like many of its neighbors, has gotten fat, says The Nation, and experts such as Carlos Monteiro, a nutrition professor, sees it in a diet teeming with processed and consumer-ready food. "Instant noodles, soda and processed meats are edging out staples like beans and rice, cassava, and fresh produce," writes Bridget Huber in "Slow Food Nation," produced in partnership with FERN.

In a first-round vote, the Philadelphia City Council voted for a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks and diet sodas. Council members must approve the levy for a second time next Thursday to become the second city in the country with a soda tax, "but it appears they have reached the final deal," said Philadelphia Magazine.

A third city in the San Francisco Bay area will vote whether to put a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, predominantly soda. This time, the November referendum will be in Oakland, neighbor to Berkeley, the first and only city in the nation to adopt a soda tax.

Mexico's 10-percent tax on sugary drinks put a dent in soda sales at first, but purchases are on the rise again, "making the country a key growth market again for soda giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo," says the Wall Street Journal. In a country with the highest per-capita soda consumption rate in the world, the tax was a public health measure aimed at high levels of obesity and diabetes.

Campaigning ahead of Tuesday's primary election in Pennsylvania, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said "I'm very supportive" of the 3-cent-an-ounce soda tax proposed by Mayor Jim Kenney, reported CNN.

Assemblyman Richard Bloom pulled California’s latest soda tax bill before it could come up for a committee vote on Tuesday, reports The Sacramento Bee.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is taking a new tack on the soda tax. Instead of promoting it as a public-health tool, Kenney asks the city council to approve a 3-cent-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages as a way to pay for universal pre-kindergarten for the city's children, says the New York Times.

Soda-taxes aren’t just an idea that liberals like, says Quartz. The soft drink industry is facing at least 12 soda tax initiatives on ballots across the country, including in places that don’t lean nearly as far left as Berkeley, California,

India, the Philippines and Indonesia are studying soda taxes, reports Reuters, saying, "2016 may be the year of the sugar tax as several large nations consider levies on sweetened food and drinks to battle obesity and fatten government coffers."

More than half of California is diabetic or pre-diabetic, says a new study out by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. Without treatment, more than 70 percent of pre-diabetics will eventually get the disease.

Some 41 million children under the age of 5 are overweight or obese, a 33-percent increase worldwide in a generation, says a report to the UN World Health Organization that urges public and private groups to reverse the trend.

Mexico's soda tax is kicking in, cutting sales of sugary beverages, says the New York Times, citing a study published in the journal BMJ this week. Mexico has the highest proportion of overweight or obese adults among developed countries, about 70 percent, and the highest rate of Type 2 diabetes, according to the OECD.

The Cook County Board, overseeing the 41 percent of Illinoisans who live in Chicago and nearby suburbs, is expected to repeal its 1-cent-per-ounce soda tax during a meeting today, only weeks after it took effect. The change of mind in Cook County, the largest jurisdiction in the nation to tax sugary beverages, is a dramatic defeat for public-health advocates.