Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Origins, Mechanisms, and Current Worldwide Status

The emergence of modern food systems has been causing unhealthy changes in the dietary patterns of millions of consumers worldwide. Nowadays, ultra-processed foods and beverages represent an increasing fraction of the total daily energy intake in both advanced and emerging economies. Most of these products are typically low in nutrients but high in one or more added ingredients, such as in the case of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) usually rich in free sugars. The regular consumption of SSBs has been associated with adverse health outcomes, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Taxes are an increasingly popular approach to attempt reducing the overconsumption of SSBs. This chapter provides a non-technical description of the rationale, mechanisms, and current worldwide status of taxes on SSBs.