Taxing sweet foods could have more health benefits than a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, according to a new study. Researchers in the UK, where a levy on sugary drinks came into effect earlier this month, found that increasing the cost of sweet snacks could lead consumers to buy fewer of these foods as well as reduce soft drinks and savoury snacks purchases.
Scientists from three universities in the UK – the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford – conducted the analysis and published their results on Thursday in the journal BMJ Open.
“We know that increasing the price of sugar-sweetened beverages is likely to generate a small, but significant, reduction in their purchase,” lead author Professor Richard Smith, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a press release.
“However, there has been little research on the impact that a similar price increase on other sweet foods such as chocolate, confectionery, cakes and biscuits could have on the purchase of sugar.”
For the study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research Policy Research Programme, researchers used data from 32,000 homes in the UK. The data provided detailed food and drink purchases in 2012 and 2013, as well as social and demographic information for each participating household. In addition to examining overall purchasing behaviour, the researchers compared purchasing across low-income, middle-income and high-income households. The study did not include food and drink purchases in restaurants.
The analysis found that increasing the price of chocolate, confectionery, cakes and biscuits by 10% could reduce purchases by about 7% – a similar result achieved by taxing sweetened drinks. Low-income households showed the biggest changes in purchasing behaviour. A 10% increase in the price of biscuits was linked to a 3% decrease in purchasing among the low-income group, while no change was observed for the high-income group.
However, the study also showed that taxing sweet snacks could cut down on the sale of other foods, including soft drinks and savoury snacks. Since sweet snacks contribute twice as much sugar to the diet as sweetened drinks do, researchers say that taxing these foods could have more health benefits than taxing sugar–sweetened beverages alone.
Researchers emphasised that because their findings were based on an observational analysis, no causal explanations can be made about the changes in consumers’ purchasing decisions.
“It’s impossible to study the direct effects of a tax on snack food on consumer behaviour until such policies are introduced, but these estimates show the likely impact of changes in the price,” said co-author Professor Susan Jebb from the University of Oxford.
Although the authors recognised there is still some uncertainty, they said future research and policies should consider a wider range of fiscal policies that could be used to improve diet and health.
“This research suggests that taxing these sweet snacks could bring even greater health gains and warrants detailed consideration,” said Prof Smith.
“These snacks are high in sugar but often high in fat too and very energy dense, so their consumption can increase the risk of obesity,” added Prof Jebb. “This research suggests that extending fiscal policies to include sweet snacks could be an important boost to public health, by reducing purchasing and hence consumption of these foods, particularly in low-income households.”