CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 553Obesity, Physical Activity, DietEconomics of Agriculture and Food MarketsGlobal Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

Assessing the potential effectiveness of food and beverage taxes and subsidies for improving public health: a systematic review of prices, demand and body weight outcomes

Open access
Powell, L. M., Chriqui, J. F., Khan, T., Wada, R., Chaloupka, F. J.·2013·Obesity Reviews
DOI 10.1111/obr.12002PMC PMC3556391
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Summary: Taxes and subsidies are increasingly being considered as potential policy instruments to incentivize consumers to improve their food and beverage consumption patterns and related health outcomes. This study provided a systematic review of recent U.S. studies on the price elasticity of demand for sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSB s), fast food, and fruits and vegetables, as well as the direct associations of prices/taxes with body weight outcomes. Based on the recent literature, the price elasticity of demand for SSB s, fast food, fruits and vegetables was estimated to be −1.21, −0.52, −0.49 and −0.48, respectively. The studies that linked soda taxes to weight outcomes showed minimal impacts on weight; however, they were based on existing state‐level sales taxes that were relatively low. Higher fast‐food prices were associated with lower weight outcomes particularly among adolescents, suggesting that raising prices would potentially impact weight outcomes. Lower fruit and vegetable prices were generally found to be associated with lower body weight outcomes among both low‐income children and adults, suggesting that subsidies that would reduce the cost of fruits and vegetables for lower‐socioeconomic populations may be effective in reducing obesity. Pricing instruments should continue to be considered and evaluated as potential policy instruments to address public health risks.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/obr.12002

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Unaffordability and inaccessibility of healthy foods and opportunities for play and sports leads to inequalities in obesity, and could limit the impact of policies that target unhealthy foods.

    “Unaffordability and inaccessibility of healthy foods and opportunities for play and sports leads to inequalities in obesity, and could limit the impact of policies that target unhealthy foods.58,59,62,63”

    From Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults (2024) · cites this paper as [59]

    The Results (Weight Outcomes; page unavailable) associate lower fruit and vegetable prices with lower weight outcomes, with the greatest expected benefit of subsidies among children and adolescents from low-SES families. The Discussion also recommends making healthier options available and competitively priced. Our copy does not establish that limited opportunities for play or sports cause obesity inequalities, or that these barriers limit the impact of policies targeting unhealthy foods. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • These efforts have had little impact on obesity prevalence, in part because healthy foods and participating in sports and other active lifestyles are not accessible or affordable for people with low income and autonomy.

    “These have had little impact on obesity prevalence, in part because healthy foods and participating in sports and other active lifestyles are not accessible or affordable for people with low income and autonomy.55–59”

    From Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults (2024) · cites this paper as [59]

    The Results (Weight Outcomes; page unavailable) associate lower fruit and vegetable prices with lower weight outcomes in low-income groups, and the Discussion reports limited weight effects from existing soda taxes. But the Discussion attributes the limited tax effects to low tax rates, not to the barriers proposed in the claim. The paper does not address access to sports or active lifestyles, or lack of autonomy, as explanations for limited impact on obesity prevalence. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Powell, L. M., Chriqui, J. F., Khan, T., Wada, R., & Chaloupka, F. J.
Affiliations
University of Illinois Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Powell, L. M.
ORCID
Venue
Obesity Reviews
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2012-11-23
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
110-128
ISSN
  • 1467-7881 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-789X
DOI
10.1111/obr.12002
PMC
PMC3556391
OpenAlex
W2128452231
Cited by
553
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 53 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 2
FWCI
5.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Obesity Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK089096)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economics of Agriculture and Food Markets
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
Keywords
food subsidies, sugar-sweetened beverages, fruit and vegetable prices, price elasticity, body weight, obesity, adolescent weight, low-income children, food pricing policy, public health policy
MeSH terms
Beverages, Body Weight, Costs and Cost Analysis, Diet, Food, Food Supply, Fruit, Government Programs, Health Promotion, Humans, Obesity, Public Health, Socioeconomic Factors, Taxes, United States, Vegetables, Social Marketing, Fast Foods

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review