title: Does the EU sugar policy reform increase added sugar consumption? An empirical evidence on the soft drink market.
abstract: Whereas National Health authorities recommend a decrease in the consumption of 'added' sugar, a reform on the sugar market will lead to a 36% decrease of the sugar price in the EU. Using French data on soft drinks purchases, this paper investigates the anticipated impact of this reform on the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. The reform of the EU sugar policy leads to a decrease in regular soft drink prices by 3% and varies across brands. To assess substitution within this food category, we use a random-coefficients logit model that takes into account a large number of differentiated products and heterogeneity in consumers' behavior. Results suggest that price changes would lead to an increase in market shares of regular products by 7.5% and to substitutions between brands to the benefit of products with the highest sugar content. On the whole, it would raise consumption of regular soft drinks by more than 1 litre per person per year and consumption of added sugar by 124 g per person per year, this increase being larger in households composed of overweight and obese individuals.
authors.affiliation: Toulouse School of Economics (INRA, GREMAQ), Toulouse, France. cbonnet@toulouse.inra.fr
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonnet
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Requillart
mesh_terms: D002253:Carbonated Beverages / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards / Q000600:supply & distribution; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards / Q000600:supply & distribution; D005062:European Union; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing / Q000191:economics; D018803:Models, Economic; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose