TY - JOUR
T1 - A tax on sugar sweetened beverages in Colombia
T2 - Estimating the impact on overweight and obesity prevalence across socio economic levels
AU - Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I.
AU - Arroyo-Ariza, Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Olga Lucía Sarmiento and Camila Franco for their valuable comments during the development of this study. Thanks to Natalia Riaño for her valuable inputs, and to the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) and the Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) for facilitating the data. For AV, this work was initially stimulated by the Postdoctoral Program of the Office of the Vice-Dean of Research and the School of Medicine of Universidad de los Andes, and continued with partial support from the Institute of Public Health of Universidad Javeriana. For DA, this work was supported by the School of Medicine of Universidad de los Andes. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the institutions to which we belong. We declare no competing interests.
Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Olga Lucía Sarmiento and Camila Franco for their valuable comments during the development of this study. Thanks to Natalia Riaño for her valuable inputs, and to the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) and the Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) for facilitating the data. For AV, this work was initially stimulated by the Postdoctoral Program of the Office of the Vice-Dean of Research and the School of Medicine of Universidad de los Andes, and continued with partial support from the Institute of Public Health of Universidad Javeriana . For DA, this work was supported by the School of Medicine of Universidad de los Andes. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the institutions to which we belong. We declare no competing interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - Colombia has a high prevalence of overweight (56%) and obesity (19%) among adults and is experiencing a growing trend in the prevalence of associated chronic conditions. Evidence suggests that sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are associated to overweight/obesity, and that taxes on these beverages could reduce their associated health consequences. This paper assesses the potential effect of different levels of a SSB tax in Colombia on overweight and obesity prevalence. Using peer-reviewed local data on own-price elasticity of SSB, we applied a comparative risk assessment strategy to simulate the effect of the SSB tax on a nationally representative nutritional survey with 7140 adults in 2010 (ENSIN, 2010). Our results varied depending on the tax scenario, pass-through assumption and household socio economic strata (SES). We found that among individuals belonging to lower SES households, the SSB tax would reduce overweight and obesity between 1.5-4.9 and 1.1–2.4 percentage points (p < 0.05), respectively. Among individuals belonging to higher SES households, we found no statistically significant effects on obesity, and a reduction on overweight prevalence between 2.9 and 3.9 percentage points (p < 0.05). In the most conservative scenario (40% pass-through), a tax rate of at least 75 cents of Colombian peso (0.75 COP) per milliliter (24% of the average price) is needed to have statistically significant effects on both overweight and obesity prevalence among lower SES households. The results of this study suggest that a SSB tax could reduce the overweight and obesity prevalence in Colombia, especially among lower SES households. This study shows that SSB taxes have a particularly beneficial effect in the most vulnerable population. Additional social and individual benefits, or individual costs arising from the tax are not assessed in this research, implying that even larger health gains could be observed.
AB - Colombia has a high prevalence of overweight (56%) and obesity (19%) among adults and is experiencing a growing trend in the prevalence of associated chronic conditions. Evidence suggests that sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are associated to overweight/obesity, and that taxes on these beverages could reduce their associated health consequences. This paper assesses the potential effect of different levels of a SSB tax in Colombia on overweight and obesity prevalence. Using peer-reviewed local data on own-price elasticity of SSB, we applied a comparative risk assessment strategy to simulate the effect of the SSB tax on a nationally representative nutritional survey with 7140 adults in 2010 (ENSIN, 2010). Our results varied depending on the tax scenario, pass-through assumption and household socio economic strata (SES). We found that among individuals belonging to lower SES households, the SSB tax would reduce overweight and obesity between 1.5-4.9 and 1.1–2.4 percentage points (p < 0.05), respectively. Among individuals belonging to higher SES households, we found no statistically significant effects on obesity, and a reduction on overweight prevalence between 2.9 and 3.9 percentage points (p < 0.05). In the most conservative scenario (40% pass-through), a tax rate of at least 75 cents of Colombian peso (0.75 COP) per milliliter (24% of the average price) is needed to have statistically significant effects on both overweight and obesity prevalence among lower SES households. The results of this study suggest that a SSB tax could reduce the overweight and obesity prevalence in Colombia, especially among lower SES households. This study shows that SSB taxes have a particularly beneficial effect in the most vulnerable population. Additional social and individual benefits, or individual costs arising from the tax are not assessed in this research, implying that even larger health gains could be observed.
KW - Colombia
KW - Obesity
KW - Overweight
KW - Sugar sweetened beverages
KW - Taxes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047630567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85047630567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.043
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.043
M3 - Article
C2 - 29857325
AN - SCOPUS:85047630567
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 209
SP - 111
EP - 116
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
ER -