A new study done with collaboration between Global Food Research Program at UNC & Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) has found that after the ‘junk food tax’ was enacted in Mexico in January 2014 household purchases of the taxed food items decreased. There was a 5.1% decrease in amount of taxed foods in 2014, with no corresponding change in purchases of untaxed foods. The 8% tax was levied on non-essential food items that contained more than 275 kilocalories per 100 grams.
Read more about the study from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health release here.
Read the full article, published July 5, 2016 on PLOS Medicine here.