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Soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, sports drinks, all have something in common in Berkely, they are sugar-filled and taxed. The city’s 1-cent-per-ounce excise tax, which began collecting taxes in March 2015, has now been shown to benefit public health efforts that helped support the tax.
A new study, released Tuesday, 2016 in the American Journal of Public Health, reveals how over 2,679 people in low-income neighborhoods across San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, CA are increasing water consumption and decreasing soda consumption.
Not only are people drinking more water, but millions of funds from the excise tax will now help schools with gardens and work to build more community nutrition and health efforts.
Whether it’s the soda tax or the awareness of the dangers of sugary drinks helped consumers to drink less sugary drinks is still to be determined, but public health professionals are encouraged from the results, stating that they are excited about how it has helped promote health among the city.
In Berkeley alone, sugary drink consumers reported drinking 21% less sugary drinks, according to the study.
“These results contribute to a growing evidence base in support,” she said, “for passing similar tax measures in cities and states across the United States,” Nancy Brown, AHA’s Cheif Executive, said in a recent article.
Studies show Latino’s increasingly drink more sugary beverages than their white peers, marketing healthier options, and increasing the price of sugary drinks, may help decrease sugary drink consumption in Latino neighborhoods.
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By The Numbers
1
Supermarket
for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood
