 Anticipatory changes in British household purchases of soft drinks associated with the announcement of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy: A controlled interrupted time series analysisNina T Rogers, David Pell, Tarra L Penney, Oliver Mytton, Adam Briggs, Steven Cummins, Mike Rayner, Harry Rutter, Peter Scarborough, Stephen J Sharp, Richard D Smith, Martin White and Jean Adams PLOS Medicine, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-21 Abstract: Background: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is positively associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization recommends that member states implement effective taxes on SSBs to reduce consumption. The UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is a two tiered tax, announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018. Drinks with ≥8g of sugar per 100ml (higher levy tier) are taxed at £0.24 per litre, drinks with ≥5- 1.2% alcohol by volume are exempt. We aimed to determine whether the announcement of the SDIL was associated with anticipatory changes in purchases of soft drinks prior to implementation of the SDIL in April 2018. We explored differences in the volume of, and amount of sugar in, household purchases of drinks in each levy tier at two years post-announcement. Methods and findings: We used controlled interrupted time series to compare observed changes associated with the announcement of the SDIL to the counterfactual scenario of no announcement. We used data from Kantar Worldpanel, a commercial household purchasing panel with approximately 30,000 British members that includes linked nutritional data on purchases. We conducted separate analyses for drinks liable for the SDIL in the higher, lower and no levy tiers, and all liable and exempt soft drinks combined, controlling with household purchase volumes of toiletries. Conclusions: The announcement of the UK SDIL was associated with reductions in volume and sugar purchased in lower levy tier drinks before implementation. These were offset by increases in purchasing of higher-levy and no levy drinks. These findings may reflect reformulation of drinks from the lower to no levy tier with removal of some, but not, all sugar, alongside changes in consumer attitudes, beliefs and purchasing behaviours. Trial registration: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN18042742. David Pell and colleagues report differences in the volume of household purchases of drinks and sugar in these drinks 2 years after the sugar levy in the UK.Why was this study done?: Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with dental caries, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. What did the researchers do and find?: We analysed purchases of drinks in the two levy tiers and other non-taxed drinks categories from 2014 to 2018 covering 2 years before the SDIL was announced and the 2 years after it was announced, but before it was implemented. What do these findings mean?: Taxes on SSBs are becoming more common throughout the world, but they vary in design. Households started changing what they purchased in the 2-year period between announcement and implementation of the SDIL because they were aware of the tax and purchased different drinks, manufacturers removed the sugar in these drinks, or both. Date: 2020 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pmed00:1003269 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003269 Access Statistics for this article More articles in PLOS Medicine from Public Library of Science |
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