Effective policies to promote sugar reduction in soft drinks: lessons from a comparison of six European countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many countries have sought to incentivise soft drinks manufacturers to reduce sugar in their products as part of efforts to address a growing prevalence of obesity. Are their policies effective?

Methods

Using a difference-in-differences design, we compared trends in the sugar content of 10 695 new sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) launched between 2010 and 2019 in six European markets, including the UK and France (taxes designed to incentivise reformulation), the Netherlands (policy based on voluntary agreements to reduce sugar), Germany, Italy and Spain (no national policies).

Results

The announcement in 2016 and adoption in 2018 of the UK tax led to yearly reductions in average sugar content of 17% (95% CI: 15-19%) to 31% (13-48%) between 2016 and 2019, com

SUBMITTER: Allais O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10710323 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature