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Many soft drink manufacturers reformulated their products after the tax was announced in 2016, helping to reduce kids’ added sugar consumption over the next three years. The United Kingdom’s sugar tax led to a nearly 50 per cent reduction in children’s added sugar intake from sodas and other soft drinks, according to new research. In March 2016, the UK government on soft drinks containing added sugar in a bid to curb childhood obesity.

The rule prompted soft drink manufacturers to cut the amount of sugar in their drinks before the tax was implemented in April 2018. Overall consumption of added sugars had also been falling for years, as Brits switched to lower-sugar alternatives. By looking at 11 years of data, researchers from the University of Cambridge and other top British universities could model the expected intake of added sugars based on existing trends.



They compared those levels to what actually happened in early 2019. The researchers found that after the tax was announced and implemented, children’s added sugar consumption from soft drinks alone dropped by 45 per cent compared with previous years. Intake also dropped by 33 per cent among adults, according to the study, which was published in the .

Compared with a scenario where the tax had not been introduced, and taking the existing decline in sugar consumption into account, the study indicates the tax led to a 23.5 per cent relative decrease in added sugar intake from soft drinks among children, and a 40.4.

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