Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
Published on: June 5, 2016
Reducing added sugars in the food supply through a cap-and-trade approach
1Sanjay Basu is with the Prevention Research Center and Centers for Health Policy, Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Kristina Lewis is with the Kaiser Center for Health Research, Southeast, Kaiser Permanente, Atlanta, GA.
Objectives:
We estimated the effect of a simulated cap-and-trade policy to reduce added sugar in the food supply.
Methods:
Using nationally representative data on added-sugar content and consumption, we constructed a mathematical model of a cap-and-trade policy and compared its health implications to those of proposals to tax sugar sweetened beverages or added sugars.
Results:
Capping added-sugar emissions into the food supply by food manufacturers at a rate of 1% per year would be expected to reduce the prevalence of obesity by 1.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.9, 2.4; a 4.6% decline) and the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 21.7 cases per 100 000 people (95% CI = 12.9, 30.6; a 4.2% decline) over 20 years, averting approximately $9.7 billion in health care spending. Racial and ethnic minorities would be expected to experience the largest declines. By comparison, equivalent price penalties through excise taxes would be expected to generate smaller health benefits.
Conclusions:
A cap-and-trade policy to reduce added-sugar intake may reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes to a greater extent than currently-proposed excise taxes.
Related Concept Videos
Global Regulatory Systems
Sugars as Energy Storage Molecules
Sugars as Energy Storage Molecules
Drug Control Governance: Regulatory Bodies and Their Impact
Oral Hypoglycemic Agents: α-Glucosidase Inhibitors
Acarbose and miglitol are...
Alcohols from Carbonyl Compounds: Reduction
Catalytic hydrogenation is similar to the reduction of an alkene or alkyne by adding H2 across the pi bond in the presence of transition metal catalysts like Raney Ni, Pd–C, Pt, or Ru. Aldehydes and ketones can be reduced by this method, often under mild to moderate heat...

