Taxing Sugared Beverages: Good for Health or Too Much Big Brother?

April 8, 2009— -- As with every disaster, the state of our economy highlights opportunities for good health and risks of doing more damage.

Desperate for revenue, states are considering taxes on sugared beverages, those drinks with added sugar, high fructose corn syrup or other caloric sweeteners.

Forty states now have taxes on soft drinks or snack foods, all too small to affect consumer decisions. But bigger changes may be on the way with recent proposals, most notably an 18 percent tax on sugared beverages put forward by the governor of New York.

Nobody likes the idea of more taxes, so the bar must be set high to consider such action, particularly given the strenuous objections of the beverage industry.

The first question is, "Why pick on sugared beverages?" There are many contributors to ill health (genes, environment, physical inactivity and more). Even considering foods leaves many possibilities; fast food and snack foods would be examples.

Enter the science: Sugared beverages, more than any other category of food, have been shown time and again to be linked with poor diet overall and to risk for obesity and diabetes. Most of the studies that do not make this link are funded by the beverage or sugar industries. Recent studies show that lowering soft drink consumption leads to healthier weights.

In the 1970s, the average American consumed 70 calories per day from sweetened drinks, rising to 141 calories in the 1990s and 190 calories as this century began. Sugared beverages now account for 10 to 15 percent of all calories consumed by children and adolescents.

There is no sign that these additional calories are being offset by changes people make elsewhere in their diets. Studies show that people compensate less well in subsequent meals when extra calories are consumed in liquid than in solid foods, so there does seem something special about sugar in beverages. A study of children by researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that with each additional serving of sugared beverage consumer per day, the likelihood of obesity rose by 60 percent.