Did High Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Purchasers Respond Differently to the Excise Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Mexico?

Citation

Ng, Shu Wen; Rivera, Juan A.; Popkin, Barry M.; & Colchero, M. Arantxa (2019). Did High Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Purchasers Respond Differently to the Excise Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Mexico?. Public Health Nutrition, 22(4), 750-756. PMCID: PMC6581622

Abstract

Objective: To estimate changes in taxed and untaxed beverages by volume of beverage purchased after a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax was introduced in 2014 in Mexico.
Design: We used household purchase data from January 2012 to December 2015. We first classified the sample into four groups based on pre-tax purchases of beverages: (i) higher purchases of taxed beverages and lower purchases of untaxed beverages (HTLU-unhealthier); (ii) higher purchases of both types of beverages (HTHU); (iii) lower purchases of taxed and untaxed beverages (LTLU); and (iv) lower purchases of taxed beverages and higher purchases of untaxed beverages (LTHU-healthier). Next, we estimated differences in purchases after the tax was implemented for each group compared with a counterfactual based on pre-tax trends using a fixed-effects model.
Setting: Areas with more than 50 000 residents in Mexico.
Participants: Households (n 6089).
Results: The HTLU-unhealthier and HTHU groups had the largest absolute and relative reductions in taxed beverages and increased their purchases of untaxed beverages. Households with lower purchases of untaxed beverages (HTLU-unhealthier and LTLU) had the largest absolute and relative increases in untaxed beverages. We also found that among households with higher purchases of taxed beverages, the group with lowest socio-economic status had the greatest reduction in purchases of taxed beverages.
Conclusions: Evidence associating the SSB tax with larger reductions among high purchasers of taxed beverages prior to the tax is relevant, as higher SSB purchasers have a greater risk of obesity, diabetes and other cardiometabolic outcomes.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S136898001800321X

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2019

Journal Title

Public Health Nutrition

Author(s)

Ng, Shu Wen
Rivera, Juan A.
Popkin, Barry M.
Colchero, M. Arantxa

PMCID

PMC6581622

ORCiD

Ng - 0000-0003-0582-110X
Popkin - 0000-0001-9495-9324