This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
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‘Junk-food tax’ could help stem obesity

A tax on junk food is more likely to spur purchases of healthy food than lowering the price of those foods.

  • The ultimate showman, P.T. Barnum,
proved to be the inspiration for Cynthia Wu’s current book
project. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

    “Public health initiatives aimed at modifying food purchasing by manipulating prices may be an important addition to clinical interventions to prevent or treat obesity.”

    Leonard Epstein
    UB Distinguished Professor, Department of Pediatrics
By LOIS BAKER
Published: March 10, 2010

One way to stem the rising rates of obesity may be to mimic the successful approach used to decrease smoking: taxes.

A laboratory experiment conducted in UB’s Division of Behavioral Medicine showed that lowering the price of healthy foods did not result in “shoppers” improving the nutritional content of the foods they purchased.

While study participants did select more of the healthier options when they were less expensive, the shoppers used the money they saved on less-expensive healthier foods to buy more of the less-healthy options, results showed.

But when the researchers increased the price of such foods as hot dogs, potato chips and Ritz Bits Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers by adding a 12.5-percent to 25-percent tax, the shoppers reduced purchases of these foods and spent a larger portion of their budget on healthier choices like bananas, tuna and chicken noodle soup.

Results of the study appear in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science.

“Taxing high-calorie-for-nutrient [HCFN] foods had the dual benefit of reducing purchases of these foods while increasing purchases of low-calorie-for-nutrient foods [LCFN] with lower energy density,” says the study’s first author, Leonard H. Epstein, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and head of the Division of Behavioral Medicine.

“From a public-policy standpoint, this strategy had the additional benefit of generating significant tax revenue. If policymakers aim to reduce consumption of HCFN foods to control rising rates of obesity, then taxing these foods may be more effective than subsidizing LCFN foods.

“In our experiment, a tax that increased the price of foods by 12.5 percent reduced the total calories purchased by 6.5 percent,” adds Epstein. “This resulted in a 12.8-percent reduction in fat calories and a 6.2-percent reduction in calories from carbohydrates.”

The study involved 42 lean and overweight mothers, divided 20 to 22 between those with family incomes below and above $50,000 per year, respectively. The Behavioral Medicine laboratory was set up to simulate a grocery store. Cards with pictures of more-healthy and less-healthy food and beverage items were arranged in sections according to food category, and prices and nutrient values were printed on the cards.

Participants were given a study income of $22.50 per family member to go on a two-hour grocery shopping trip. Told to imagine she had no food in the house, each participant set about selecting a week’s groceries for her family by selecting the food cards. Research staff collected the cards and recorded the prices and nutritional values.

Each participant went food shopping five times. Research staff set the prices of each item before each task. During one experiment, prices were set based on current prices at a local supermarket. During two tasks, prices on the LCFN foods were lowered, described as subsidies, by 12.5 percent and 25 percent, while HCFN prices remained constant. During another two tasks, prices of HCFN were raised by 10 and 25 percent, respectively.

Selections from each shopping task were analyzed for nutrient values and costs of the chosen foods. Analysis showed that “taxing” less-healthy food is a potential strategy to lower consumption of those products.

“The results of this study suggest that the goal would be to develop a strategy that simultaneously reduces purchases of less-healthy foods while increasing the purchase of healthier options,” says Epstein. “Public health initiatives aimed at modifying food purchasing by manipulating prices may be an important addition to clinical interventions to prevent or treat obesity.”

Epstein and colleagues are planning a study combining taxes and subsidies in an expanded experimental grocery store, as well as studies on how individual differences, such as impulsivity, influence response to changing prices.

Additional authors on the paper are Kelly K. Dearing and Lora G. Roba from the Division of Behavioral Medicine, and Eric Finkelstein from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.

Reader Comments

Polly MacDavid says:

I am unclear how "taxing" food will work for those on foodstamps, since technically, foodstamps items are untaxed...to start taxing these items will require a money requirement at the end of the transaction, which many of the poor are unable to afford...it is hard enough for the poor to come up with the cash to buy taxed items such as toilet paper and soap. Also, most so-called "healthy" foods are much more expensive than so-called "junk" food (I do not consider hotdogs "junk food"). This is just another attack on the poor.

Posted by Polly MacDavid, Student, 04/16/10

S Reynolds says:

I agree with Christine and Chad. This idea is as outrageous as it sounds . Another N.Y.S. revenue producing scheme gone terribly wrong! I would be embarrassed to write an article about this nonsense.

Posted by S Reynolds, Student, 03/17/10

Mark F. Tattenbaum, M.F.A. says:

Another ill conceived idea from our dysfunctional state government. This is almost as bad, or even worse than letting individual SUNY presidents decide what tuition should be!

Posted by Mark F. Tattenbaum, M.F.A., MFA, 03/15/10

Christine Sumner says:

You may also consider, that taxing less healthy foods may in many cases simply place an unnecessary hardship on families that have to resort to less expensive foods just to feed their children. The tax may then lead to families being able to purchase less food than is needed to feed themselves, healthily or not.

Posted by Christine Sumner, Student, 03/14/10

Chad Harris says:

Though promising as the research depicts, the idea of taxing less healthy foods is a little more than a pipe dream. How would large corporations respond to states whom wish to tax such products produced by Frito-Lay and Kellogg? These corporations thrive on the less than healthy population of the United States. People who buy their products don't complain. Research should be concentrated into feasible ideals. I feel that the idea of healthy versus non-healthy eating is one of personal concern and should not be thrown into the realm of general interest. The research although intriguing is the equivalent of placing test subjects to a bed curfew and then observing the increase in productivity in the workplace as time trudges on. Wait, don't we have a word for that? ...oh, yeah! Socialism.

Posted by Chad Harris, Student, 03/11/10