Estimated Changes in Free Sugar Consumption One

ABSTRACT Background The UK soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) was announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018, encouraging manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of soft drinks. This is the first study to investigate changes in individual- level consumption of free sugars in relation to the SDIL. [...] Conclusion The SDIL led to significant reductions in dietary free sugar consumption in children and adults. Energy from free sugar as a percentage of total energy did not change relative to the counterfactual, which could be due to simultaneous reductions in total energy intake associated with reductions in dietary free sugar. [...] WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS ⇒ There were declining trends in the intake of dietary free sugar in adults and children prior to the UK SDIL. [...] HOW THIS STUDY MIGHT AFFECT RESEARCH, PRACTICE OR POLICY ⇒ The UK SDIL was associated with significant reductions in consumption of free sugars from soft drinks and across the whole diet and reinforces previous research indicating a reduction in purchasing. [...] We aimed to examine changes in absolute and relative consumption of free sugars from soft drinks alone and from both food and drinks (allowing us to consider possible substitutions with other sugary food items), following the announcement and implementation of the UK SDIL. [...] Outcomes of interest Outcomes of interest were absolute and relative changes in the total intake of dietary free sugar from (1) all food and soft drinks combined and (2) from soft drinks alone. [...] Overall, relative to the counterfactual scenario, there was an absolute reduction in daily free sugar consumption from soft drinks of 3.0 g (95% CI 0.1 to 5.8) or a relative reduc- tion of 23.5% (95% CI 46.0% to 0.9%) in children (table 2). [...] Change in total dietary free sugar consumption (food and soft drinks combined) Consumption of total dietary free sugars in children was approx- imately 70 g/day at the beginning of the study but this fell to approximately 45 g/day by the end of the study (figure 2). [...] Energy from free sugar in soft drinks as a proportion of total energy from soft drinks also decreased across the study period but did not change significantly relative to the counterfactual (see online supple- mental figure S2). [...] Consumption of food and particularly soft drinks outside of the home in young people (1–21 years) increases with age and makes Figure 1 Observed and modelled daily consumption (g) of free sugar from drink products per adult/child from April 2008 to March 2019.