Sugar, Alcohol, and Caffeine: Policy Impacts on Consumption and Health Outcomes

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol: from physical health, to mental health, to risky behavior, consuming these substances can have direct health impacts, as well as spillovers onto others. Yet, because these substances can be addictive, people can over-consume. This provides an opportunity for policy to shape consumption behavior and its downstream health impacts. This panel includes four quantitative, quasi-experimental papers focused on revealing how policies affect consumption, and the health consequences of consuming these powerful substances.

While there are large literatures on policies targeting consumption of these substances (i.e. Carpenter & Dobkin, 2011; Pfinder et al., 2020; Andreyeva et al. 2022), the papers in this proposed panel push the boundaries of what we know by exploring unintended consequences, mechanisms, and indirect policy effects. Two of the papers analyze impacts of policies directly targeting consumption of sugar. These papers explore the role of food labeling laws in Chile and Singapore that mandate labels for high-sugar foods. The first paper digs into a potential mechanism by exploring how firms respond to product labeling laws in the sugar content of new products. The paper demonstrates that firms reduce the sugar content of newly launched products to avoid regulation. The second paper complements the first by exploring an unintended consequence, asking whether sugar-labeling laws lead to higher consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), which can also have negative health effects.

The third paper analyzes minimum drinking age laws (MDLA) intended to reduce alcohol consumption among young people. However, the paper explores how the potential evasion of such laws – where young people drive to neighboring jurisdictions with lower MLDAs to drink – can have unintended consequences on traffic fatalities. This paper extends the literature by exploring the impact of MLDA evasion into Canada and Mexico – both of which have lower MLDAs than the United States. Finally, the fourth paper shows how a policy that – on its face – is unrelated to consumption, can have unintended consequences on consumption. The paper uses time zone borders to ask whether policies that determine the alignment between solar and social clocks can affect the way we consume stimulants like caffeine.  In sum, these four papers extend the state of knowledge on consumption impacts of health policies, providing vital knowledge to policy-makers about mechanisms and unintended consequences.    

Andreyeva, T., Marple, K., et al. (2022). Outcomes following taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2215276.
Carpenter, C., & Dobkin, C. (2011). The minimum legal drinking age and public health. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(2), 133-156.
Pfinder, M., Heise, T. L., et al. (2020). Taxation of unprocessed sugar or sugar‐added foods for reducing their consumption and preventing obesity or other adverse health outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4).

Policy Area

• Health Policy

Chair

• Lauren E Jones, University of Toronto

Discussant

• David Frisvold, University of Iowa

Organizer

• Lauren E Jones, University of Toronto

Individual Presentations

• Product Entry Effects of Singapore’s High-Sugar Beverage Advertising Restrictions - Presenting Author: Rajib Rahman, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

• Collateral Effect: Impact of Chile’s Law of Food Labeling and Advertising on non-caloric sweeteners - Presenting Author: Jean P. Sepulveda, Universidad del Desarrollo-Chile

• Daylight and Caffeine Consumption: Evidence from Time Zone Borders - Presenting Author: Nahae Kang, The Ohio State University