Mexico's tax on soft drinks is one of the world's highest, and it appears to be working. Since its implementation in 2014, the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks in the country has fallen by 12 percent, indicates a new joint study by Mexico's National Institute of Public Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Obesity rates among Mexicans of all ages is high, the study notes, at more than 33 percent for young people (2-18 years) and around 70 percent for adults. The prevalence of diabetes in Mexico is also the highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
The study found that the average city-dwelling Mexican bought 4.2 fewer liters of taxed soft drinks in 2014, compared with consumption patterns from the previous two years, outlines the Wall Street Journal. In contrast, the same consumers bought 12.8 more liters of untaxed beverages like milk and plain water.
Importantly, the study also reveals that the main decline in soft drink consumption has been among those of low socioeconomic status, who are least able to afford health care. Along these lines, however, the tax has critics who claim that it unfairly restricts the purchasing power of lower-income families, as WSJ reports.
For many Mexican families living on an average wage, cheap fried food is the most affordable option. "Buying a family combo with fried chicken, fries and a drink feeds me and my three children at a price which I am able to pay," Paola Flores, an office secretary, told the Latin Correspondent.
The study recognized that the effect of the soft drink tax has been moderate, stating that in order for it to achieve more impactful results on the nation's health, it should be raised to a 20 percent price increase from its current standing at 10 percent.
Overall, the Mexican government's response to obesity is also being praised as a pioneering global example that other nations would do well to emulate at a federal level, including the United States, as the Chicago Tribune suggests. Mexico's obesity rate is the second highest in the developed world, just behind that of the U.S.
Mexico also has taken other measures to combat obesity, including incentives for workers to get more active in exchange for public transportation fares, curbing the sale of calorie-heavy foods in schools, taxing packaged snacks, and restricting the number of junk food commercials during TV programs for children, according to the Wall Street Journal.
