Would Taxing Unhealthy Foods Improve Public Health?

Increasing the cost of cigarettes through tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to decrease the harms of smoking; so, what does the science say about sodium, sugar, and saturated fat taxes?



For more on how the food industry has borrowed from the tobacco industry playbook, see:

But wait, what about those that insist that sodium really isn’t bad for you? See:


Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

Image Credit: Rafael Edwards via flickr. Image has been modified.

[NutritionFactsOrg]

We're putting out our Top 10 videos list tomorrow! Subscribe to our newsletter or check the blog tomorrow to see our ten must-watch for the year!

[karbsundance]

how about putting an end to the subsidies first?

[MikoVanara]

They need to pull subsidization from dairy and corn and put it towards healthy vegetables and fruits.. but there is just too much corruption in the government, too many politicians with vested interests in these industries.

[GoustiFruit]

Before taxing meat, take back their subsidies ! That would make meat so expansive that no one would buy it anymore.

[strega_bonnie]

Here's an idea: instead of taxing unhealthy foods, just end government subsidies to the meat dairy and egg industries, and allow the price of these items to accurately reflect their cost to produce. It is not the job of the government to save us from ourselves. Let the free market work, and hold people accountable for their own choices.

[adrianm.]

tobacco and junk food need to dissappear from this world, starting from USA!

[Cjeska]

I see a lot of people saying that the subsidy for the food production should be ended instead of taxing unhealthy food, but that doesn't make sense on several levels. First of all, the subsidies aren't there to make your food cheap, it's there to protect local farmers against foreign production. This fact alone should tell you, that the price increase after dropping the subsidy is only marginal, because you would just get your food for basically the same price but with added (higher) transportation costs. The effect on consumption would therefore also be minimal. The other reason why this proposal is nonsense, is that the subsidy is for the agricultural product, not for the unhealthy food they CAN make out of it. It's like taxing water because it's an ingredient in Coca Cola.

[RonnieMinh]

Looking to the government to solve the problem of people eating junk would be a disaster. The government is the problem, not the solution.

[apostis]

Next year in Portugal products with sugar, sodas, drinks besides tobacco and alcohol will have a tax

[Robsan]

Unhealthy food cannot be defeated because it has 2 Super Powers:
1) It's Cheap
2) It's DELICIOUS!

[PotatoStrong]

insurance company incentives could be the ticket

[hynjus]

I'm on of the South Africans Dr Greger mentions that benefits from the Health Insurance subsidy. My plant based diet gets a nice 25% discount. It makes it so much cheaper. Keep in mind this is much different to a public subsidy which is subject to lobbying. A private health insurance company gains nothing from subsidizing the wrong food

[haydenrose]

People NEED to be Informed on a Large Scale about the Dangers of Fast food, along with meat and dairy. If the public still chooses to eat The same way after they know what the risks are, then there is nothing more to do, they'll find out the hard way.

[GuacamoleKun]

I'm really glad to see you tackling this even though it's a bit outside the bounds of strictly nutrition topics. As someone who isn't exactly poor but can't really afford to get very sick, taking care of my health nutritionally (and with exercise) is a top priority not just for my comfort but for my wallet!

[saintearth]

The taxes could go toward universal health care.

[tanisham]

Taxation is theft. Removing all subsidies and allowing insurance companies to offer better premiums to those with healthy eating habits would be a far more sensible approach.

[mjss]

Don't tax unhealthy foods and don't tax others to subsidize someone else's insurance policy.

If you want to eat like crap then when you get health insurance you will pay the higher rates. It would take little time to do a quick health screening once every year or two. You go in, get weighed, blood pressure, pulse, height, list of medications you take, and do you smoke or not. Then let the insurance companies categorize people into groups of other like individuals.

That said, don't subsidize food growers at all either.

[sikbowl]

Just not subsidising unhealthy foods would do the job. Meat industry subsidies bring down a burger from £25 ($30) by some estimates, I've heard

[darkrillen]

taxing food patches the issue but doesn't bring to light the actual problem
plus I don't want the govt deciding what's healthy and what's not because they've done such a good job in the past

[wadayaduin]

Doesnt the US already subsidize foods? like..beef..gmo corn...