Effective policies to promote sugar reduction in soft drinks: lessons from a comparison of six European countries.

BACKGROUND: Many countries have sought to incentivise soft drinks manufacturers to reduce sugar in their products as part of efforts to address a growing prevalence of obesity. Are their policies effective? METHODS: Using a difference-in-differences design, we compared trends in the sugar content of 10 695 new sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) launched between 2010 and 2019 in six European markets, including the UK and France (taxes designed to incentivise reformulation), the Netherlands (policy based on voluntary agreements to reduce sugar), Germany, Italy and Spain (no national policies). RESULTS: The announcement in 2016 and adoption in 2018 of the UK tax led to yearly reductions in average sugar content of 17% (95% CI: 15-19%) to 31% (13-48%) between 2016 and 2019, compared to 2015, while the 2018 French tax produced a 6% (95% CI: 5-7%) sugar reduction only in 2018, compared to 2017, shortly after it was redesigned to provide a stronger incentive for reformulation. Voluntary agreements implemented in the Netherlands in 2014 led to an 8% (95% CI: 4-13%) sugar reduction only in 2015, compared to 2013. CONCLUSION: The analysis supports the conclusions that sugar reductions in new SSBs have been greater in countries that have adopted specific policies to encourage them; a sugar-based tax design encourages more sugar reductions than a volume-based tax design; the tax rate and the amount of the tax reduction from switching to the next lower tier in a sugar-based tax design may be critical to incentivize reformulation.

Obesity interferes with the orosensory detection of long-chain fatty acids in humans.

BACKGROUND: The association between the orosensory detection of lipids, preference for fatty foods, and body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) is controversial in humans. OBJECTIVE: We explored the oral lipid-sensing system and the orosensory-induced autonomic reflex system in lean and obese subjects. DESIGN: Lean (BMI: 19 to <25; n = 30) and obese (BMI >30; n = 29) age-matched men were enrolled. Their oral threshold sensitivity to linoleic acid (LA) was determined by using a 3-alternative forced-choice ascending procedure, and their eating habits were established by the analysis of 4 consecutive 24-h food-consumption diaries. The effect of brief oral lipid stimulations on plasma triglyceride [(TG)pl] concentrations was analyzed in overnight-fasted lean and obese individuals subjected to a whole-mouth stimulation (sip-and-spit procedure) with a control or 1% LA emulsions for 5 min according to a within-subject randomized design. RESULTS: A large distribution of LA detection was shown in both groups. Mean detection thresholds were 0.053% (wt:wt) and 0.071% (wt:wt) in lean and obese subjects, respectively. No relation between the LA detection threshold and BMI was observed. The 5 subjects who detected only the higher concentration of LA (5% wt:wt) or were unable to distinguish properly between control and LA emulsions were obese. An analysis of dietary habits showed that these obese LA nontasters consumed more lipids and energy than did all other subjects. Brief whole-mouth stimulations (sip-and-spit procedure) with a control or 1% LA emulsion revealed an LA-mediated rise in (TG)pl concentrations in overnight-fasted, lean subjects. The origin of this change seemed to be hepatic. This (TG)pl upregulation was not shown in obese subjects, which suggested that obesity led to disturbances in the oral-brainstem-periphery loop. CONCLUSION: Altogether, these data strongly suggest that obesity may interfere with the orosensory system responsible for the detection of free long-chain fatty acids in humans. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02028975.

Consumers' acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese. A comparative study in France and Norway.

This study explores consumers' acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese in France (n=120) and Norway (n=119). The respondents were presented with 16 photographs of a traditional cheese from their respective countries, varying according to six factors: pasteurisation, organic production, omega-3, packaging, price and appropriateness. For each of the scenarios the consumers indicated their willingness to buy the cheese on a nine-point scale. Results show that consumers' willingness to buy traditional cheese is highly driven by price, appropriateness and pasteurisation in both countries. However, on average consumers in the French sample prefer buying raw milk cheese, while consumers in the Norwegian sample prefer buying pasteurised cheese. These general trends are led by a pro-raw milk segment in France and a pro-pasteurised milk segment in Norway. Several interaction effects involving appropriateness are detected, indicating the importance of the consumption context on the acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese. On a general level, the results indicate that well-accepted innovations in traditional cheese are those that reinforce the traditional and authentic character of the product.