Study explores impact of 20% sugary drinks tax

A Monash University-led study suggests that a national 20% sugar-sweetened beverage tax (SSB) could increase health equity of Australians over 10 years.

The study, involving Deakin University and the University of Melbourne, also investigated the cost-effectiveness of interventions for oral disease prevention, finding that direct healthcare savings could be $42.2 million, with 510,977 decayed teeth and 98.1 disability-adjusted life years — a measure of healthy life lost through premature death or disability due to illness or injury — averted.

The study further concluded that under a lifetime scenario for the current population, direct healthcare savings from the tax were $122.5 million, with 1,309,211 decayed teeth and 254.9 disability-adjusted life years averted.

Tan Nguyen, an oral health therapist and Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine PhD candidate who worked on the study, said that SSB taxes had increased prices and decreased consumption on an international level, claiming similar enforcements in Australia had the potential to be a healthy and cost-effective strategy.

However, no such taxes have been implemented and information in relation to oral health prevention is limited.

“To date, economic evaluations of Australian dental programs are scant,” Nguyen said.

Two major barriers to a sugar-sweetened beverage tax were federal government support and industry pushback, with the ensuing tasks required of convincing these sectors from a “health equity lens”, according to authors of the study.

“Poor oral health is highly prevalent in the Australian population and impacts mostly on vulnerable people,” Nguyen said. “The major contributors impacting quality of life due to oral diseases are tooth decay, advanced gum disease and severe tooth loss caused mostly by caries and gum disease.”

The study was originally published in Health Economics, and claims the changes could prevent more than 500,000 dental cavities and lead to overall societal cost savings of $176.6 million under a lifetime scenario.

Image caption: iStockphoto.com/Andrew1Norton