Vanessa Oddo publishes paper in The Journal of Nutrition

Recently published in The Journal of Nutrition, “The Impact of Seattle’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax on Substitution to Sweets and Salty Snacks,” is the first study testing whether an implemented SSB tax affected calories sold of sweets in the United States.

The estimations showed modest substitution to sweets in Seattle following the implementation of its SSB tax. However, this increase in sweets, measured by both sales and calories, is not likely to offset the potential health benefits of the substantial post-tax decrease in the volume sold from taxed beverages in Seattle. Thus, this study contributes to the limited body of literature that suggests that SSB taxes are a promising approach to reducing net caloric intakes.

Vanessa Oddo is the lead author.