By Rita Colorito on February 20, 2012 in
Everything in moderation is often advice we hear from health experts. But when it comes to sodas, sports drinks and other sweetened beverages, we're guzzling more than we should--13.8 million gallons annually according to the latest figures--and that's contributing to America's soaring epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
Policy experts argue a tax on these sugary drinks, such as those being considered by California, New York and other states, would curb our consumption to healthier levels. And now they have a detailed study to back up their assumptions.
What extra pennies from pop could do
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) and Columbia University reported in the January 2012 issue of Health Affairs the potential impact on health and healthcare spending of a penny-per-ounce tax on these beverages.
They estimate the tax would, over a 10-year period:
- Reduce consumption by 15 percent among adults ages 25 to 64;
- Prevent 2.4 million cases of diabetes;
- Prevent 95,000 coronary heart events;
- Prevent 8,000 strokes;
- Prevent 26,000 premature deaths;
- Generate $13 million in tax revenue; and
- Reduce the health burden of medical costs related to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease by $17 billion
"Our hope is that these types of numbers are useful for policy makers to weigh decisions," said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF and acting director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the UCSF-affiliated SFGH, in a released statement.
In addition, a recent study by Yale University found that diabetic teens were more likely to drop out of high school and, over a lifetime, could expect to earn about $160,000 less than those without diabetes. That's a lot of pennies.
And, the other side
The American Beverage Association countered the soda tax study with its own statement, saying that the singling out of sweetened beverages and their relationship to overall health is "overly simplistic." It offered these background points:
Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages make up only 5.5 percent of the calories in the American diet according to according to a National Cancer Institute analysis of government data submitted to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. That means more than 94 percent of our calories come from other sources.
Sales of regular soft drinks declined by 12.5 percent from 1999 to 2010. Yet, obesity rates continued to rise at the same time.
A review by George Mason University researchers showed that a 20 percent tax on soda would reduce an obese person's Body Mass Index from 40 to 39.98-- an amount not even measurable on a bathroom scale.
And, West Virginia and Arkansas are two states with an excise tax on soft drinks, yet both states rank among the 10 states with the highest obesity rates in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This debate has been going on for over two years and there still has been no resolution. Whether or not there will be one may depend on a national soda tax being implemented. Stay tuned.