Impact of Sugar Tax on Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption among Saudi Schoolchildren.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia introduced a 120% tax on energy drinks and a 50% tax on soft drinks. The impact of this policy on the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) among schoolchildren is not known in this country. The present study evaluated the impact of the excise tax on SSB consumption in the tri-city metropolitan area of Dammam-Khobar-Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. A repeated cross-sectional design was used to examine the difference between pre- and post-tax SSBs consumption among schoolchildren (12-14 years old) in Dammam-Khobar-Dhahran cities. A beverage-consumption frequency questionnaire was completed by 453 participants before the tax implementation and 334 participants after the tax implementation. The tax on soft drinks was increased by 50% and on energy drinks by 120%. Pre-tax data were collected in May 2017 and post-tax data in April 2018. The proportion of participants who consumed energy drinks was 46.1% (95% CI: 42-51) before tax implementation, decreasing to 38.4% (95% CI: 33-44) after tax implementation, a reduction of nearly 8%. 92.5% (95% CI: 90-95) of the participants consumed soft drinks before tax implementation and 94.6% (95% CI: 92-97) did so after tax implementation, an increase of about 2%. The study showed no statistically significant impact of tax implementation on the consumption of energy drinks and soft drinks in this sample of children.

Citation

Muhanad Alhareky, Sumit Bedi, Abdullah AlMulhim, Maha El Tantawi, Faraz A Farooqi, Jehan AlHumaid. Impact of Sugar Tax on Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption among Saudi Schoolchildren. Oral health & preventive dentistry. 2021 Jan 07;19(1):189-194

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PMID: 33723978

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