Report: Mexico’s Sugary Drink Tax is Working…Can it Work in U.S.?

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Mexicans are guzzling fewer sugary drinks since a national sugary drink tax took effect one year ago, and U.S. health proponents say they hope this can help sway local voters to adopt similar measures, the International Business Times reports.

Studies indicate raising the price of sugary drinks can reduce consumption and potentially lower obesity and health risks.

U.S. Latino kids consume an above-average amount of sugary drinks (soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, and flavored milk), which contributes to increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and other health issues that disproportionately affect the Latino community.

Mexico’s sugary drink tax, a reaction to the country’s large sugary drink intake (3.6 million cans of soda each day) and high diabetes rates (one-sixth of the population), adds 1 peso, or 7 cents, per liter of sugary drink. It took effect Jan. 1, 2014.

Here’s the results so far, according to the International Business Times:

A year later, preliminary data suggest consumption rates are falling, though it’s too early to say precisely how much, said Barry Popkin, who teaches global nutrition at the University of North Carolina in Raleigh and is working with Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health to study the country’s soda tax.

The institute’s earliest results suggest in the first three months of 2014, purchases of sugary drinks dropped by 10 percent from the same period in 2013. “The results were pretty positive. In essence there was a reduction in sugary beverage intake, and there was some increase in healthier drinks, like water,” Popkin said. Researchers should have more conclusive 2014 results on both consumption levels and related health impacts within a few months, he added.

In the meantime, there’s the corporate data. Coca-Cola Femsa, Mexico’s biggest soft drink bottler, saw its drink sales drop by 6.4 percent in the first half of last year, compared to the same period in 2013, in part due to the drink tax and other economic factors. Another Mexican Coke bottler, Arca-Continental, said its drink sales slipped by 4.7 percent in Mexico for the same period. And more than half of Mexicans last year said they had lowered their sugary drink intake compared to 2013, according to an August survey.

The results are inspiring similar taxes in Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

U.S. voters have rejected 30 tax efforts by cities and states. Only Berkeley, Calif., has enacted a 1-cent-per-ounce tax.

“If it’s shown that Mexico’s soft drink tax is effective in reducing soda consumption, and that in turn has an effect on Mexico’s obesity rate, I think you’ve got a pretty good case,” said Michael Roberts, executive director of UCLA’s Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy, in the International Business Times.