Fat taxes, soda taxes... what to do about obesity?
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:54 pmObesity is a growing trend throughout the world.
- In the United States in particular, 35% of adults are obese. 69% are overweight or obese.
- Around 1975-1980, the obesity rate was 15%.
- We're the fattest OECD country. The average OECD country has an obesity rate of about 18%. We're nearly 2x as obese as the average Western developed country.
- Obesity costs the health system (direct medical costs) in the US about $190bn a year, or nearly 21% of all medical spending in the US.
- About $60bn of that cost is absorbed by Medicaid or Medicaid, costing taxpayers quite a bit. The rest is reflected in higher insurance premiums and strains on health care facilities.
- If we just kept obesity rates at current levels and stopped them from increasing, we'd save $550bn over the next two decades.
- By 2030, if we don't do something, obesity rates will reach 51%.
- Obesity rates vary quite a bit by region. The south and Midwest are fatter, while the Northeast and West are less obese.
- More than 300,000 preventable deaths are caused by the obesity epidemic each year.
So...obesity is a huge problem, and it's skyrocketing out of control. In 30 years, the obesity rate more than doubled, and the majority of the population could be obese in ~15 years. We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on medical expenses, but even more is lost in lost productivity, obesity education programs, etc. It's a public health crisis and an epidemic.
Now, the question asks, what do we do? Should we do anything? Are taxes and regulations unfair and contrary to personal responsibility?
There's been everything suggested: from fat taxes, to soda taxes, to soda size bans, to calorie listing, to increased physical education, mass health education campaigns, etc. It poses a difficult question: how do we strike the balance between combating a public health epidemic, and ensuring we don't come off as too much of a nanny state?
Fat taxes and soda taxes could work. "One U.S. study reviewed by Mytton and his colleagues found a 35% tax on sugar-sweetened drinks — $0.45 per drink — led to a 26% decline in sales. Based on their analysis of modeling studies, they concluded a 20% tax on sugary drinks in the U.S. would reduce obesity levels by 3.5% — from 33.5% to 30% among adults. A similar tax in the U.K. could cut up to 2,700 heart disease deaths a year."
"Taxing a wide range of unhealthy foods or nutrients is likely to result in greater health benefits than would accrue from more limited taxation; that said, the strongest evidence favors a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Taxation needs to be at least 20% to have a significant effect on obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Taxes on unhealthy foods should ideally be combined with subsidies on healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables."
So, what does NSG think? How do we combat the obesity epidemic?
- In the United States in particular, 35% of adults are obese. 69% are overweight or obese.
- Around 1975-1980, the obesity rate was 15%.
- We're the fattest OECD country. The average OECD country has an obesity rate of about 18%. We're nearly 2x as obese as the average Western developed country.
- Obesity costs the health system (direct medical costs) in the US about $190bn a year, or nearly 21% of all medical spending in the US.
- About $60bn of that cost is absorbed by Medicaid or Medicaid, costing taxpayers quite a bit. The rest is reflected in higher insurance premiums and strains on health care facilities.
- If we just kept obesity rates at current levels and stopped them from increasing, we'd save $550bn over the next two decades.
- By 2030, if we don't do something, obesity rates will reach 51%.
- Obesity rates vary quite a bit by region. The south and Midwest are fatter, while the Northeast and West are less obese.
- More than 300,000 preventable deaths are caused by the obesity epidemic each year.
So...obesity is a huge problem, and it's skyrocketing out of control. In 30 years, the obesity rate more than doubled, and the majority of the population could be obese in ~15 years. We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on medical expenses, but even more is lost in lost productivity, obesity education programs, etc. It's a public health crisis and an epidemic.
Now, the question asks, what do we do? Should we do anything? Are taxes and regulations unfair and contrary to personal responsibility?
There's been everything suggested: from fat taxes, to soda taxes, to soda size bans, to calorie listing, to increased physical education, mass health education campaigns, etc. It poses a difficult question: how do we strike the balance between combating a public health epidemic, and ensuring we don't come off as too much of a nanny state?
Fat taxes and soda taxes could work. "One U.S. study reviewed by Mytton and his colleagues found a 35% tax on sugar-sweetened drinks — $0.45 per drink — led to a 26% decline in sales. Based on their analysis of modeling studies, they concluded a 20% tax on sugary drinks in the U.S. would reduce obesity levels by 3.5% — from 33.5% to 30% among adults. A similar tax in the U.K. could cut up to 2,700 heart disease deaths a year."
"Taxing a wide range of unhealthy foods or nutrients is likely to result in greater health benefits than would accrue from more limited taxation; that said, the strongest evidence favors a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Taxation needs to be at least 20% to have a significant effect on obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Taxes on unhealthy foods should ideally be combined with subsidies on healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables."
So, what does NSG think? How do we combat the obesity epidemic?