Philadelphia’s sweetened drink sales drop 38 percent after beverage tax | Penn Today

One year after Philadelphia passed its beverage tax, sales of sugary and artificially sweetened beverages dropped by 38 percent in chain food retailers, according to Penn Medicineresearchers who conducted one of the largest studies examining the impacts of a beverage tax. The results, published in JAMA, translate to almost one billion fewer ounces of sugary or artificially sweetened beverages—about 83 million cans of soda—purchased in the Philadelphia area. The findings provide more evidence to suggest beverage taxes can help reduce consumption of sugary drinks, which are linked to the rise in obesity and its related non-communicable diseases, such as type II diabetes.