March 27, 2019 — Victory is right around the corner. It’s not easy, but the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have finally figured out how to win the war on childhood obesity. They’ve published a joint position paper that calls for taxing sugar-sweetened beverages and curbing advertising for such products. Benjamin Winig of […]
January 9, 2019 — Forgive us for saying so. But this seems a bit like opposite day. On one hand, taxing sugar sweetened beverages is popular in progressive enclaves like Berkeley, California. On the other, the conservative Wall Street Journal is warning that such taxes are highly regressive. They’re hurting vulnerable, low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, says the Journal. Are […]
January 4, 2019 — Who pays and who benefits from a national sugar-sweetened beverage tax? A new paper in AJPH asked this question and demands our attention. Unfortunately, instead of offering objective answers, we find only wobbly math used to make a point about the hypothetical cost-effectiveness of an SSB tax. A Complex Model to Make a Simple Point […]
December 29, 2018 — Beware these words: I have a theory. Science defines theories as: Coherent groups of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation. Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Kearse tells us that our present age of truth decay is distorting the meaning of […]
November 20, 2018 — ObesityWeek brings together diverse perspectives – scientists, clinicians, and public health professionals. We heard from all of them last week. “Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes work,” a number of public health folks told us. “For their intended purpose. To reduce unhealthy beverage consumption.” That last bit provides the important fine print. Taxes on SSBs are spreading all over […]
