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Did Philadelphia’s soda tax have an impact on people’s health?

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Previous studies have already established that the tax led to a drop in sales, based on data from Philadelphia supermarkets and pharmacies, said Christina Roberto, a health policy researcher and associate director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

She and a group of researchers went deeper to look at electronic health records to compare the body mass index of thousands of patients in Philadelphia, versus people who live outside the city. They found that BMI increased over time in both areas, but the rate at which BMI went up was slower for people in Philadelphia. The new article, which was published this month in the Lancet Regional Health – Americas, concludes that there was “limited evidence” of reduced BMI and obesity prevalence in Philadelphia, due to the tax.

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