New restrictions on the use of food benefits to purchase soda and candy have been one of the biggest changes enacted by the Make America Healthy Again movement. But a key question has been how profoundly the bans would affect public health, with some economists arguing that people would just use other funds to buy Coke and other sugary drinks instead.
Now a new study shows that soda purchases did indeed fall by about 12% among people who receive Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits after the bans went into effect in 10 states. The study, which was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and has not yet been peer-reviewed, says this translates to a person drinking about 34 fewer 12-ounce cans of soda per year.
That’s not huge, according to the study’s authors, but it’s far from nothing.
“If the goal is to reduce obesity, reduce the cases of diabetes caused by people being overweight and overconsuming sugary beverages, this is probably one part of a broader set of policies,” said Matt Notowidigdo, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who co-authored the study.
The study was supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has worked to tax sugary beverages in the U.S. and elsewhere. Bloomberg Philanthropies also contributes funding to STAT but is not involved in STAT’s editorial decisions.
