In the News

An original analysis by researchers at New York University College of Global Public Health and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University finds that a federal tax on junk food is both legally and administratively feasible. The article, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, points to using an excise tax paid by junk food manufacturers, rather than a sales tax for consumers.

Changing the prices of seven foods, including fruits, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages, could reduce deaths due to stroke, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and address health disparities in the United States, finds a study led by researchers from Tufts University.

Federal, state, and local governments each have a role to play in protecting health. Federal and state government, however, can alter or hinder state and local activity through a legal mechanism called preemption – when a higher level of government blocks the action of a lower level of government. An increase in state preemption of local food policies led a research team to assess whether preemption of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by the federal government would be likely based on Congress’s historical rationales for preempting taxes.

Excise taxes to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages have not yet been enacted at the state or federal level in the United States, but since 2014 seven municipal or county jurisdictions have adopted such taxes. A new viewpoint written by researchers at Tufts University and Harvard Kennedy School evaluated reasons for success or failure and whether local sugar-sweetened beverage taxes are likely to spread.

Nearly half of all deaths due to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes in the U.S. in 2012 were associated with suboptimal consumption of certain dietary factors, according to a study appearing in the March 7 issue of JAMA.

A new systematic review and meta-analysis finds that lowering the cost of healthy foods significantly increases their consumption, while raising the cost of unhealthy items significantly reduces their intake.

A new global study projects that a government-supported policy to reduce salt consumption would be highly cost-effective across the world. Based on costs and a 10 percent reduction in salt over 10 years, such a program would save nearly 6 million life-years currently lost to cardiovascular disease each year, at an average cost of $204 per life-year saved.

In nationally representative surveys conducted between 1999 and 2012, several improvements in self-reported dietary habits were identified, such as increased consumption of whole grains, with additional findings suggesting persistent or worsening disparities based on race/ethnicity and education and income level, according to a study appearing in the June 21 issue of JAMA

Consumption of sugary drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year worldwide, according to research published today in  the journal Circulation and previously presented as an abstract at the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention in 2013.

In a Viewpoint published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a team of Boston researchers call for the implementation of taxes and subsidies to improve dietary quality in the United States. The researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital write that policies taxing nearly all packaged foods and subsidizing healthier foods could both help people make meaningful dietary changes and substantially reduce health care costs.