Sugared Beverage Tax Endorsements and Recommendations
A new resource is available for those interested in sugar-sweetened beverage taxes. The Rudd Center has created a list of national organizations and institutions that support these taxes, recommend more research on the efficacy of this promising strategy, or have called for a decrease in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, as a part of the national effort to reduce obesity and overweight. The document quotes the pertinent statement from each organization, and provides links to the full statement.
USDA Issues New Report on Potential Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes
A new study from the USDA Economic Research Service analyzed the effects of a hypothetical tax on caloric sweetened sodas, fruit drinks, sports and energy drinks, and powdered mixes. The study found that consumers facing a higher price induced by a tax would react by adjusting their choices among alternative beverages, such as diet drinks, bottled water, juice, coffee/tea, or milk.
Results of this study suggest that a tax-induced 20-percent price increase on caloric sweetened beverages could cause an average reduction of 37 calories per day, or 3.8 pounds of body weight over a year, for adults and an average of 43 calories per day, or 4.5 pounds over a year, for children.
Read more in the full report.
Obesity Rates Increased in Most U.S. States
The Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released their annual F as in Fat report on obesity trends in the United States. This year’s subtitle, “How Obesity Threatens America’s Future,” illustrates the serious impact of the public health challenge.
Among the report's key findings: adult obesity increased in 28 states in the last year, up from 23 states in the year prior. Also, rates for African American and Latino adults were higher than Whites in 80% of states.
The report also highlights the nature and frequency of weight bias, which has increased by 66% in the past decade in the United States and is as prevalent as racial discrimination.
Kids Think Foods Branded with Dora, Shrek, and Scooby-Doo Taste Better
Children significantly prefer the taste of junk foods branded with licensed cartoon characters on the packaging, compared with the same foods without characters, finds a new Rudd Center study published in Pediatrics. For the first time, the study shows a causal relationship between licensed characters on food packaging and children’s taste and snack preferences.
Read more about the study in the press release and USA Today. Watch lead researcher Christina Roberto discusses the study and its implications on NBC.
Rudd Center in the Media
Obesity and food policy are in the news now more than ever, and our faculty has been on the front lines. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart featured an interview with Marlene Schwartz on the importance of the government's role in the obesity epidemic.
