How much financial leverage does it take to make people change their long-established habits and preferences? Not all that much according to a survey by researchers at the University of California. In fact, adding a few cents to the price of sugary drinks appears to make them much less desirable…
Doctors and dieticians say plain old Water is the best choice for a no-cal beverage,
tax or no tax. I say, don’t pay for Bottled Water; keep a filter Jug in your fridge!
Some history…
In 2015, the city of Berkeley introduced a one cent-per-ounce / 30 ml surtax on sugary drinks in an experiment to0 see whether folks would drink healthier beverages as a result. Sounds like a small thing – maybe $0.12 a can for the average Soda/Soft Drink. But researchers from UC Berkeley, following up annually, say the result has been amazing.
What they did…
The UC Berkeley (UCB) research project was simple to conduct. Volunteers placed at high-traffic intersections in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco poll passersby about their beverage consumption habits.
What they found…
Just six months after the new tax came into effect, UCB pollsters found that the consumption of sugary drinks by folks in lower-income and ethnically diverse communities in the target cities had dropped by 21 percent. Those communities had the highest rates of diabetes and cardio-vascular disease. When the researchers polled pedestrians again last year, the number of folks reporting drinking fewer sugary beverages had climbed to 52 percent. And Water consumption had grown by 29 percent.
The takeaway…
“This just drives home the message that soda taxes work,” said Kristine Madsen, Faculty Director of the Berkeley Food Institute in UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. “Sugar-sweetened beverages, which are linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, cost our nation billions of dollars each year, but they are super-cheap. They’d cost much more if the health care costs were actually included in the price of the soda. Taxes are one way of taking those costs into account.”
My take…
Bravo! for sugary drink taxes… But I think the most significant finding of the surveys was that Water consumption was way up. Physicians and dieticians agree that Water is still the best choice for you if you want to have a low-cal or no-cal beverage. And it’s way cheaper than sugar-free commercially-prepared drinks.
The problem for many people is, water just doesn’t do the trick flavour-wise. To them I say, do what I do: add a teaspoon / 5 ml of Lemon or Lime Juice (or more to taste) to each 8 oz. / 240 ml glass of Water you drink. And pour that Water from a filter Jug like Brita’s that you keep ice cold in the fridge. I guarantee you’ll see Water in a whole different light!
Cheers!
~ Maggie J.