Reducing Obesity By Increasing Prices of Unhealthy Foods

It was pretty controversial when the New York governor suggested imposing a ‘sin tax’ on high-calorie soft drinks and other unhealthy foods in an attempt to fight the obesity epidemic.

This is clearly a tough idea to swallow considering the current state of the economy and the soaring jobless rates.  However, two recent studies suggest that there might actually be some merit to this idea.

In one study, researchers explored the effectiveness of two pricing strategies in a simulated grocery store: (1) imposing taxes on unhealthy foods or (2) discounting the healthy foods.  Volunteers who were mothers were recruited to shop in this simulated grocery store several times under each shopping condition.  The results of this study showed that:

• Taxing unhealthy foods reduced overall calories purchased.
• Taxing unhealthy foods resulted in a lower percentage of fats and carbohydrates and a higher percentage of protein in a week’s groceries.
• Discounting the price of healthy foods increased total calories purchased and surprisingly did not change the overall nutritional value.

In a second study, 5,000 volunteers were followed for 20 years.  Information on body weight, diabetes, and cost of fast food in their communities was gathered and analyzed.  Results of this study demonstrated that:

• When fast food and soda prices increased by 10%, study participants consumed fewer calories from soda and fewer calories from pizza such that nearly 60 fewer calories were consumed per day.
• An increase in fast food prices was also associated with less weight gain and a lower risk for diabetes.

While these are truly interesting studies, which outline a potential way to reduce obesity and obesity-related conditions, the thought of increasing food prices in today’s economy is rather frightening.  Ideally, an increase in the cost of unhealthy foods would coincide with a reduction in price of healthy food options.  While this would not ease everyone’s financial burden, it might open the doors to healthier eating without an increase in our overall food budgets.

Would you eat healthier if unhealthy foods cost more?