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Food Choice, Markets and Policy (Poster Session)

(P05-007-25) Beverage Consumption Before and After the Implementation of Canada’s First Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax

Saturday, May 31, 2025
12:45 PM - 1:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board E-24
Disclosure(s):
Scott V. Harding, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a major contributor to unhealthy weight gain and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In September 2022, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) implemented Canada’s first provincial SSB tax to reduce consumption and improve public health outcomes. This study evaluates the tax's initial impact on beverage consumption.

Methods: A natural experiment compared beverage consumption among adults in NL before (August 2022) and after (October–December 2023) the tax's implementation. Repeat cross-sectional data, including a nested longitudinal cohort, were collected via online surveys and beverage frequency questionnaires. Adjusted analyses estimated odds ratios and mean differences in post-tax to pre-tax consumption, for taxable SSBs, non-taxable SSBs, diet beverages, and unsweetened beverages.

Results: Among 3,241 participants (pre-tax: n=1,233; post-tax: n=2,008), adjusted odds of weekly taxable SSB consumption decreased by 24% (OR=0.76, 95% CI 0.65–0.89; p=0.006). However, the odds of non-taxable SSB consumption increased by 60% (OR=1.60, 95% CI 1.35–1.90; p< 0.01). No significant changes were observed in weekly mean beverage intake for any beverage category, among those who reported any weekly consumption. Sensitivity analyses of the longitudinal cohort aligned with these findings.

Conclusions: One year post-implementation, NL's SSB tax reduced the odds of any weekly taxable SSB consumption but did not significantly affect overall SSB consumption levels among consumers of taxable SSBs. Findings highlight opportunities to improve tax design, such as expanding targeted beverages and enhancing consumer price signaling. Future research should explore the tax's effects on pricing, sales, and public health outcomes.

Funding Sources: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Memorial University