First-Year Evaluation of Mexico’s Tax on Nonessential Energy-Dense Foods: An Observational Study

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Why Was This Study Done?

In January 2014, Mexico passed an 8% tax on nonessential foods with energy density ≥275 kcal/100 g, including salty snacks, chips, cakes, pastries, and frozen desserts; and a 1 peso/liter (~10%) tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

To date, there has been very limited research as to how larger health-related food/beverage taxes change household food purchases, or whether low socioeconomic status (SES) households are more responsive to such taxes.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

Using a dataset that follows household food purchases over time, we examined whether the volume of taxed foods showed greater declines in the post-tax period than we would have expected based on trends in the volume of taxed food purchases prior to the tax. We also examined whether post-tax changes in the volume of taxed food purchases was greater among low SES households.

We found that the mean volume of purchases of taxed foods in 2014 declined by 25 g per capita per month, or a 5.1% change beyond what would have been expected based on pre-tax (2012–2013) trends.

There were no changes in the purchase of untaxed foods in the post-tax period.

Low SES households’ purchases of taxed foods declined by 10.2% and medium SES households by 5.8%, whereas high SES did not change.

What Do These Findings Mean?

These findings show that in the post-tax period, purchases of taxed foods declined more than we would expect if pre-tax trends had simply continued, particularly among low and medium SES households. Future research should explore how these shifts are linked to changes in the nutritional quality of the overall diet.

Vyšlo v časopise: First-Year Evaluation of Mexico’s Tax on Nonessential Energy-Dense Foods: An Observational Study. PLoS Med 13(7): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002057
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002057

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