Hawaii’s Sugar Sweetened Beverage Fee:
What YOU Should Know
The Problem:
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Fifty-seven percent of adults in Hawaii are overweight or obese.i Additionally, about 1 in 4 children entering kindergarten in Hawaii are overweight or obese.ii
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Sugar-sweetened beverages are most strongly linked to increased rates of obesity and risk for diabetes iii,iv,v,vi,vii, and provides no essential nutrients.viii
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Since the late 1970s, intake of sugar-sweetened beverages has more than doubled among adults ages 19 and older.ix In Hawaii, more then one-quarter of adults drink soda “almost every day or more”.x
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Hurt Kids
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Drinking one 12-ounce soft drink daily increases a child’s odds of becoming obese by 60 percent.xi Drinking soda nearly doubles the risk of dental caries in children.xii
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In an 18-month randomized controlled trial of 4-11 year olds, replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with non-caloric beverages significantly reduced weight gain and body fat.xiii
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Soda, energy and sports drinks, and sweetened bottled waters are the largest source of added sugars in the diets of 2-18 year olds, with fruit drinks following as the second largest source.xiv
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Hurt Adults
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Among adults, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with: a risk of weight gain and obesityxv,xvi,xvii,xviii,xix, cardiovascular riskxx,xxi,xxii, a significantly higher risk of strokexxiii, high blood pressurexxiv,xxv, type 2 diabetesxxvi,xxvii,xxviii,xxix, dental erosionxxx,xxxi and a risk of pancreatic cancer.xxxii,xxxiii
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Hurt Our Pocketbooks
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An estimated $470 million is spent annually on obesity-related health problems in Hawaii.xxxiv
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We ALL pay for these costs. Business owners bear the brunt of the obesity epidemic in Hawaii by paying for healthcare coverage for their employees.
The Solution: Hawaii’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Fee:
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A fee of 1 cent per ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages is expected to reduce consumption by 8-10 percent.
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The fee will raise approximately $38 million in new revenue in 2014-15. Fees collected will go into a fund to support childhood and adult obesity prevention and health promotion.
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A sugar-sweetened beverage fee is supported by the public. A scientific poll found that 66 percent of adults in Hawaii support increasing the price of sugar-sweetened beverages if the money raised is used to prevent childhood obesity.xxxv
i Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS)
ii Pobutsky A and Bradbury E. 2011. Surveillance of Overweight/Obesity in Hawaii Public School Students Entering Kindergarten in 2002-2003 and 2007-2008. Hawaii State Department of Health, Chronic Disease Management and Control Branch. Poster presentation for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Annual Conference, 2011.
iii Malik VS, Popkin BM, Bray GA, Després JP, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk. Circulation 2010;121:1356-1364.
iv Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med 2011;364:2392-2404.
v Vartanian LR, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health 2007;97:667-675.
vi Malik VS, Schulze MB, Hu FB. Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:274-288.
vii Hu FB, Malik VS. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidence. Physiol Behav 2010;100:46-54.
viii Department of Health. (2009). Sugar-sweetened Beverage Tool Kit Retrieved from http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/sdtaxes_nys_soda_lit_rev.pdf
ix Popkin, BM. Patterns of beverage use across the lifecycle. Physiol Behav 2010;100:4-9.
x Maddock, J.E., Marshall, C., Nigg, C.R. & Barnett, J.D. (2003). Development and first year results of a psychosocial surveillance system for chronic disease related health behaviors. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 1(5), 54-64.
xi Ludwig DS, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observationalanalysis. Lancet. 2001;357(9255):505-508.
xii Sohn W, Burt BA, Sowers MR. Carbonated Soft Drinks and Dental Caries in the Primary Dentition. J Dent Res. 2006; 85(3): 262-266.
xiii deRuyter JC, Olthof MR, Seidell JC, Katan MB. A trial of sugar-free or sugarsweetened beverages and body weight in children. N Engl J Med 2012; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1203034.
xiv (Reedy J and Krebs-Smith SM. Dietary sources of energy, solid fats, and added sugars among children and adolescents in the UnitedStates. J Am Diet Assoc 110.10 (2010): 1477-1484.).
xv Malik VS, Popkin BM, Bray GA, Després JP, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk. Circulation 2010;121:1356-1364.
xvi Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med 2011;364:2392-2404.
xvii Vartanian LR, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health 2007;97:667-675.
xviii Malik VS, Schulze MB, Hu FB. Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:274-288.
xix Hu FB, Malik VS. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidence. Physiol Behav 2010;100:46-54.
xx Hu FB, Malik VS. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidence. Physiol Behav 2010;100:46-54.
xxi Maersk M, Belza A, Stødkilde-Jørgensen H, et al. Sucrose-sweetened beverages increase fat storage in the liver, muscle, and visceral fat depot: A 6-month randomized intervention study. Am J Clin Nutr 2011;95:283-289.
xxii Aeberli I, Gerber PA, Hochuli M, et al. Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2011;94:479-485.
xxiii Bernstein AM, de Konig L, Flint AJ, Rexrode KM, Willett WC. Soda consumption and the risk of stroke in men and women. Am J Clin Nutr 2012;95:1190-1199.
xxiv Chen L, Caballero B, Mitchell DC, et al. Reducing consumption of sugarsweetened beverages is associated with reduced blood pressure: A prospective study among United States adults. Circulation 2011;121:2398-2406.
xxv Duffey KJ, Gordon-Larsen P, Steffen LM, Jacobs Jr DR, Popkin BM. Drinking caloric beverages increases the risk of adverse cardiometabolic outcomes in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;92:954-959.
xxvi Hu FB, Malik VS. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidence. Physiol Behav 2010;100:46-54.
xxvii Vartanian LR, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health 2007;97:667-675.
xxviii Vartanian LR, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health 2007;97:667-675.
xxix Malik VS, Popkin BM, Bray GA, Després JP, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sugarsweetened beverages and the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 2010;33:2477-2483.
xxx Noble WH, Donovan TE, Geissberger M. Sports drinks and dental erosion. J Calif Dent Assoc 2011;39:233-238.
xxxi Burt BA, Kolker JL, Sandretto AM, Yuan Y, Sohn W, Ismail AI. Dietary patterns related to caries in a low-income adult population. Caries Res 2006;40:473-480.
xxxii Mueller NT, Odegaard A, Anderson K, et al. Soft drink and juice consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: The Singapore Chinese Health Study. Cancer Epidem Biomar 2010;19:447-455.
xxxiii Larsson SC, Bergkvist L, Wolk A. Consumption of sugar and sugarsweetened foods and the risk of pancreatic cancer in a prospective study. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:1171-1176.
xxxiv Trogdon, JG, Finkelstein, EA, Feagan, CW, et al. State- and Payer-Specific Estimates of annual Medical Expenditures attributable to Obesity. Obesity, 2012; 20(1): 214-220.
xxxv Maddock, J.E., Sinclair, B., & Richards, K. (2012). Assessing support for taxing sugar sweetened beverages in Hawaii. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, San Francisco, CA.
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