Researchers at Harvard’s school of public health report that a tax on soda and other sugary beverages in Baltimore, MD, could help reduce diabetes and obesity in the city, according to the Baltimore Sun. It could also generate $25.6 million for health programs.
Researchers concluded that in Baltimore a 1-cent-per-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage tax would mean a 6 percent decline in diabetes, 4,950 fewer cases of obesity and $31.6 million in savings in health care costs over a decade. They also predicted that the tax would increase prices on sugary beverages by 16.3 percent and cause soda consumption to decline by 20 percent.
The study, commissioned by Healthy Food America, looked at the impact of a sugar sweetened beverage tax on 15 major cities.
