Taxing Sugar Sweetened Beverages and the Resulting Effects on Obesity
Margot Sanger-Katz’s article “Yes, Soda Taxes Seem to Cut Soda Drinking” in The New York Times is an interesting, albeit brief, cross-examination of different research on the effects that the implementation of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has on obesity and weight gain in the population. It provides brief examples assimilated together in an attempt to discuss a highly important current public health event that unfortunately comes across as a sloppy journalistic interpretation of significant scientific progress in the public health field. Though poorly executed, this article does start an important conversation: should public health policies exist that limit access to certain foods, especially if one of public health’s biggest issues is the lack of access to certain nutritious foods for low-income areas? Furthermore, does this “soda tax” actually decrease the amount of soda consumption? Although it appears that the author has missed the point, Sanger-Katz provides a link to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that actually answers both of these questions magnificently and insists that though thirty-three
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After analyzing a population and determining that there is indeed an epidemic occurring, it is in the public health’s best interest to address the concern immediately. One effective way to promote public health initiatives and remedy the situation is to create meaningful legislation that will positively impact the population it is concerning. The creation and implementation of a SSB tax to decrease the prevalence of obesity and weight gain in a population is an excellent example of such