People are more likely to skip high-calorie foods when faced with an extra tax, according to research by Janneke Giesen from Maastricht University.
In a study involving 178 American students, participants selected from different virtual lunches in a computer experiment. Notably, they chose less calorie-dense options when high-sugar and high-fat items were taxed by at least 25%.
This held true except for those who routinely monitor calories, who selected lower-calorie lunches regardless of price. The tax led to a 100- to 300-calorie reduction in selected lunches, scaling with tax rates of 25% to 50%.
FAT TAX
Giesen's findings suggest a fat tax could outperform calorie labeling in driving healthier eating. Future studies will test lower rates, such as 10%.
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