The global burden of obesity leads to significant morbidity and has major economic implications. In April 2018, Britain will join a growing number of countries attempting to tackle this using fiscal measures when the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy is introduced. We review recent evidence from natural experiments of the impact of health-related food and drink taxes on consumer behaviour, and discu...

Soft drinks are beverages composed of water and other ingredients that provide specific sensorial attributes. Soft drink consumption patterns have recently been changed partially influenced by an increased availability of different types of beverages during the last few years. Consumers' preferences to choose one drink over another are influenced, not only by genetic, psychological and environm...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate time trends in the availability of soft drinks, to identify food choices associated with their consumption and to assess the relationship between socio-economic status and daily soft drink availability in a wide range of European countries. DESIGN Data on food and beverage availability collected through the national household budget surveys and harmonized in the DAFNE (D...

OBJECTIVE To examine family- and school-based predictors of breakfast consumption, soft drink consumption and physical activity (PA) and moderating effects of gender and socio-economic status (SES). DESIGN Longitudinal study (6-year follow-up), including a questionnaire about dietary and activity behaviour. SETTING Fifty-nine Flemish elementary schools. SUBJECTS Seven hundred and twenty-s...

OBJECTIVES Examine energy drink/shot and regular and diet soft drink use among United States secondary school students in 2010-2011, and associations between such use and substance use. METHODS We used self-reported data from cross-sectional surveys of nationally representative samples of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students and conducted multivariate analyses examining associations between b...

Adults and children are repeatedly exposed to the pairing of food and drink as found in meal deals and "combos". There may arise from this indoctrination, a contingent relationship between drink context and food preference. Our multi-method research examines food and drink combining. A survey-based study examines the food and drink pairing preferences of adults (N=60), while a laboratory study ...

OBJECTIVE To describe the beverage portion size consumed and to evaluate their association with excess weight in Brazil. METHODS We used data from the National Dietary Survey, which included individuals with two days of food record aged over 20 years (n = 24,527 individuals). The beverages were categorized into six groups: soft drink, 100% fruit juice, fruit drink, alcoholic beverage, milk, and...