Study: Minorities’ Health Would Benefit Most from Sugary Drink Tax

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Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages is likely to decrease consumption, resulting in lower rates of diabetes and heart disease—and these health benefits are expected to be greatest for low-income, Hispanic and African-American Californians, according to a new study, HealthCanal reports.

The study, led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, Oregon State University and Columbia University, “modeled the national health effects of a penny-per-ounce tax over the course of 10 years and found that it would reduce consumption among adults by 15 percent.”

That reduction in sugary drink consumption would improve health indicators for minority populations, according to the report:

The analysis, published Dec. 11, 2013 in the online journal PLOS ONE, predicted that overall, one in 20,000 Californians would avoid diabetes. This estimate would double for Hispanics and poor Californians and triple for African Americans…

…More than 10 million Californians drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage, such as soda, fruit punch or sports drinks, every day, and surveys show that blacks, Hispanics and the poor consume more of their daily calories from sugar-sweetened beverages than whites and those in higher income brackets. Higher sugar intake is associated with a variety of health risks, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

Many of the predicted health benefits from cutting consumption of sugary beverages depend on the assumption that people will not replace those calories by eating and drinking more of other things.

Read more here.