"Food is the number one cause of poor health in America."
It's no secret there are strong correlations between how much foods cost and how much we consume them, with things like soda taxes being proposed across the world as a powerful tool for fighting obesity.But what if you were to broaden the scope of that kind of thinking, reducing what it costs to buy a whole range of healthy foods, while simultaneously hiking prices on unhealthy alternatives?
According to new projections, the economic ripples of taxing unhealthy foods while subsidizing healthy options would end up saving thousands of American lives every year – even if the price adjustments were only small..."
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Our nation is facing serious public health challenges which must be addressed, but singling out one source of calories for taxation will not make people healthier. In fact, federal data shows obesity rates are on the rise while soda consumption is at 30-year lows proving that soda consumption is not driving obesity rates. It’s wrong to mislead people into believing that obesity is caused by one source of calories– and that a tax will make people healthy.
Instead of taxing people, we should seek to provide consumers with information on how to best maintain a balanced diet and give them the food and beverage choices to do so. Via our newest initiative, Balance Calories, we are driving a reduction in the sugar and calories consumed from beverages across the nation. We’re working to achieve our ambitious goal by offering more beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all, smaller portions and the encouragement to cut back on sugar and calories from beverages with calorie awareness signs on company-controlled vending machines, fountain equipment and retail coolers nationwide.
Working together, industry, government and the public health community can help educate people about moderating their calories from all sources. America’s beverage companies are proud to be doing our part.
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