Briggs et al Overall and income specific effect on prevalence of overweight and obesity 0f 20% sugar sweetened drink tax in UK: econometric and comparative risk assessment.

2013 BMJ vol 347              pp 14

Leader on this topic

Block BMJ vol 347             p 7

In the United States 12-19 year olds ingest 300 cals a day in sweetened drinks.

Adults about 2/3 of this amount

Whilst substantial the figures for the UK are less.

Several European countries , eg Hungary, Finland and France have introduced a tax on sugared drinks.

The paper by Briggs suggest that such a tax would significantly reduce the consumption of such drinks and reduce the number of obese individual in the UK by 1.3%.

Statistics on the effect of the tax in Hungary, Finland and France would be a useful first step.