City-Level Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Youth Body Mass Index Percentile.

Importance: Levying excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) distributors, which are subsequently passed on to consumers, is a policy implemented to reduce the high prevalence of cardiometabolic disease and generate public health funding. Taxes are associated with lower SSB purchases and consumption, but it is unknown whether they are associated with weight-related outcomes in youth. Objective: To determine the association of SSB excise taxes with youth body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study was conducted from 2009 to 2020, including 6 years before tax implementation and 4 to 6 years after tax implementation. The California cities of Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, which implemented SSB excise taxes, were compared against 40 demographically matched control cities in California. Participants included Kaiser Permanente members aged 2 to 19 years at cohort entry (baseline) with continuous residence in selected cities with at least 1 pretax and 1 posttax BMI recorded in their electronic health record. Data analysis was performed from January 2021 to May 2023. Exposure: Implementation of SSB excise taxes. Main Outcomes and Measures: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age-specific and sex-specific BMI percentiles and percentage of youth with overweight or obesity before tax implementation through 4 to 6 years after implementation were compared with control cities. Statistical analysis was conducted using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. A sensitivity analysis used the synthetic control method. Results: A total of 44 771 youth (mean [SD] age at baseline, 6.4 [4.2] years; 22 337 female [49.9%]) resided in the cities with SSB taxes; 345 428 youth (mean [SD] age, 6.9 [4.2] years; 171 0168 female [49.5%]) resided in control cities. There was a -1.64-percentage point (95% CI, -3.10 to -0.17 percentage points) overall difference in the mean change of BMI percentile between exposure and control cities after SSB tax implementation. There was no significant overall difference in the percentage of youth with overweight or obesity or youth with obesity compared with control cities. All DID estimates were significant for youth residing in exposure cities in terms of BMI percentile (age 2-5 years in 2017, -2.06 percentage points [95% CI, -4.04 to -0.09 percentage points]; age 6-11 years in 2017, -2.79 percentage points [95% CI, -4.29 to -1.30 percentage points]), percentages of youth with overweight or obesity (age 2-5 years, -5.46 percentage points [95% CI, -8.47 to -2.44 percentage points]; age 6-11 years, -4.23 percentage points [95% CI, -6.90 to -1.57 percentage points]), and percentages of youth with obesity (age 2-5 years; -1.87 percentage points [95% CI, -3.36 to -0.38 percentage points]; age 6-11 years, -1.85 percentage points [95% CI, -3.46 to -0.24 percentage points]). Compared with control cities, changes in mean BMI percentiles were significant for male (-1.98 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.48 to -0.48 percentage points), Asian (-1.63 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.10 to -0.16 percentage points), and White (-2.58 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.11 to -1.10 percentage points) youth. Compared with control cities, White youth in exposure cities had improvements in the percentage with overweight or obesity (-3.73 percentage points; 95% CI, -6.11 to -1.35 percentage points) and the percentage with obesity (-2.78 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.18 to -1.37 percentage points). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, SSB excise taxes were associated with lower BMI percentile among youth. Policymakers should consider implementing SSB excise taxes to prevent or reduce youth overweight and obesity and, ultimately, chronic disease, particularly among children younger than 12 years.

The Effect of City-Level Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes on Longitudinal HbA1c and Incident Diabetes in Adults With Prediabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Prediabetes, which is a condition characterized by higher-than-normal blood glucose levels that are under the threshold for diabetes, impacts over one-third of U.S. adults. Excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a proposed policy intervention to lower population consumption of SSBs and generate revenue to support health-related programs, thus potentially delaying or preventing the development of diabetes in individuals with prediabetes. We leveraged data from Kaiser Permanente in California to examine the impact of SSB taxes in California on individual-level mean HbA1c levels and rates of incident diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We compared two outcomes, mean HbA1c levels and rates of incident diabetes, among a matched cohort of adults with prediabetes who lived and did not live in SSB excise tax cities, using outcomes collected in the 6 years prior and 4 years following SSB tax implementation. We used multivariable linear mixed effects models to analyze longitudinal mean HbA1c and discrete-time survival models for incident diabetes. RESULTS: We included 68,658 adults in the analysis. In adjusted models, longitudinal mean HbA1c was 0.007% (95% CI 0.002, 0.011) higher in the tax cities compared with control individuals; while the estimated difference was statistically significant, it was not clinically significant (HbA1c <0.5%). There was no significant difference in the risk of incident diabetes between individuals living in tax and control cities. CONCLUSIONS: We found no clinically significant association between SSB taxes and either longitudinal mean HbA1c or incident diabetes among adults with prediabetes in the 4 years following SSB tax implementation.

Food prescription pilots: feasibility, acceptability and affordability of improving diet through menu planning and grocery delivery.

BACKGROUND: Lack of adherence is a primary reason people fail to maintain a healthy diet or lose weight. Multiple environmental factors, including aggressive marketing and convenience of nutrient-poor food, undermine people's best intentions. The aim was to assess the feasibility, acceptability and impact of food prescriptions in which participants' exposure to commercial food outlets is reduced, because the groceries are delivered with weekly menu plans and recipes. METHODS: This is a series of pre-post pilot proof-of-concept studies. We recruited 37 members of Kaiser Permanente interested in improving their diet or losing weight. Weekly meal plans meeting more than 90% of recommended dietary allowances were designed to be low cost, in line with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allowances. Five separate pilots targeted different populations. Participants were required to provide 24-h dietary recalls (ASA24) before and during the interventions. Weight management pilot participants had height, weight and blood pressure measured before and after 4-week pilots and followed sustainability guidelines, limiting meat and dairy. RESULTS: Across pilots, the healthy eating index improved (+21.1 points; 95% CI [confidence interval] 15.9, 26.3). For the weight management pilots, most participants lost weight (average 10.3 lbs for men, 5.7 lbs for women; 95% CI -10.2, -5.4). The majority of participants liked the programme and considered it the easiest weight loss programme they ever tried. CONCLUSIONS: These pilots suggest that meal planning and grocery delivery can be affordable and acceptable and could ultimately have a major impact on diet-related chronic diseases. Longer-term studies are needed to confirm how long compliance will endure.