Study led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine with the University of Cambridge found adding a 10p levy to sugary drinks sold in Jamie’s Italian restaurants resulted in a decline in sales.
In September 2015, Jamie’s Italian added a £0.10 levy to the price of its non-alcoholic sugar sweetened drinks. At the same time, the chain reorganised the non-alcoholic beverage menu into two sections: sugar sweetened drinks and ‘other’ beverages which included fresh fruit juices, bottled waters and diet cola. In addition, fruit spritzers (fruit juice mixed with water) were added to the main non-alcoholic beverage menu. The menu also explained the decision to implement the levy and that proceeds would go directly to the Children’s Health Fund which supports children’s health initiatives.
Using sales data from 37 Jamie’s Italian restaurants, this study explored the effects of these changes on sales of all types of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs), 12 weeks and six months after they were implemented. After adjusting for general trends in sales, the number of SSBs sold per customer declined by 11.0% at 12 weeks and by 9.3% six months after introduction of the measures. Reductions were greatest in restaurants with higher SSB sales per customers.
Steven Cummins, Professor of Population Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the study, said: “Obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are among the most pressing global health challenges facing the world today. Evidence suggests that excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is an important contributor to these potentially life-threatening conditions but we still don’t have a clear answer on how best to encourage people to consume fewer of them."
“Our study showed that a combination of the levy, menu changes and clearly explaining to customers why it was introduced and that the proceeds would go directly to a worthy cause, looks to have had a relatively large effect on consumer behaviour given the small size of the levy. This type of ‘complex intervention’ has also been shown to be successful in economic studies of levies on alcohol.”
Professor Mike Rayner, Chair of the Children's Health Fund advisory board welcomed the results, "The original premise of the Children’s Health Fund was that raising money by means of a levy on sugary drinks sold through participating restaurants would reduce consumption and also provide hypothecated funds for children’s health and education initiatives throughout the UK. We are delighted that this independent evaluation confirms that introducing such a levy has led to a significant decline in sales of sugary drinks in participating restaurants and we note the Children’s Health Fund is also beginning to create real, lasting change to the lives of children around the UK through supporting projects to provide them with safe accessible drinking water and healthy food during the holidays.
More information about the study can be found here.
The Children's Health Fund is adminstered by Sustain.
Published Tuesday 17 October 2017
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
