Limiting the size of single serve sugary drinks: New NZ study on health and cost impacts

Monday, April 1st, 2019 | tedla55p | No Comments

Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Helen Eyles

There is a lot of focus on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) internationally, due to their role in tooth decay, obesity and diabetes [1-3], their lack of beneficial nutrients, and potential acceptability as an intervention target [4]. Our just published study has shown that an intervention to reduce the size of all single serve SSBs would probably be cost-effective in NZ [5]. In this Blog we elaborate on the issues and consider this intervention in the context of other interventions for addressing NZ’s obesogenic environment.

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And now the Brits are doing it: A sugary drink tax levy on the industry

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018 | dayhi34p | 1 Comment

Prof Tony Blakely, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Cristina Cleghorn

From 1 April 2018, the UK is putting in place a type of sugary drinks tax – actually a “soft drinks industry levy”. This blog reviews how they are doing it, early signs of its success, and ponders its relevance for NZ.  We also take this opportunity to point out some problems with a recent NZIER Report on sugary drink taxes.

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Analysis of a new NZ Treasury Report on soft drink tax

Tuesday, February 28th, 2017 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Professors Tony Blakely, Nick Wilson, Boyd Swinburn and Cliona Ni Mhurchu

The Government has an action plan to tackle childhood obesity, but it lacks a tax on sugary drinks – a strategy for which there is good evidence.  A new Treasury Report on soft drink tax price elasticities has just emerged. It has the look of a strategically published document that if and when – during election year – certain politicians need to defend non-action on taxing sugary drinks, they can point to this Report and obfuscate.  Indeed, this New Zealand Treasury Report has already been used for this purpose in Australia. We critique this Report in this blog, with a view to preventing its misrepresentation and to encourage a more informed discussion on taxing sugary drinks.

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Progress on Reducing Retail Availability of Sugary Drinks in NZ

Monday, May 16th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Andrea Teng, Dr Rob Beaglehole, Prof Tony Blakely

water_vending_machine_bottle_washing_mode_with_ce_isoNew Zealand has made some progress in removing the sale of sugary drinks from hospitals and schools. In this blog we look at such successes to date and consider what could be done to further reduce availability of these products which are both harming oral health and fuelling the obesity epidemic.

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Taxing sugary drinks: Empirical findings out of Mexico

Thursday, February 4th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | 1 Comment

Dr Andrea McDonald, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Tony Blakely

Soft drinks blog picLast month the British Medical Journal published a study on the highly anticipated purchasing data examining the impact of taxing sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) in Mexico (1). This study reported that the 10% tax on SSBs was associated with an overall 12% reduction in purchases and a 4% increase in purchases of untaxed beverages one year after implementation. In this blog we examine this latest study, how it fits in with existing evidence, and how these results might apply to improving the control of obesity and improving child oral health in New Zealand.

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