Abstract
Obesity is a complex health issue in the United States of America (USA) and around the world. The sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) tax has become a popular health policy tool among public representatives to reduce the intake of SSBs. This article proposes three different strategies for an effective and comprehensive health policy with a goal to reduce excess sweetener consumption to an extent that it could have an impact on public health. Strategies include (1) a tax on sweeteners as inputs instead of a tax on final products (outputs) such as sugary drinks/SSBs, (2) specifying added sugars in the nutrition facts label with %Daily Value (%DV) based on the American Heart Association’s (or based on similar health organizations in individual countries) recommended sweetener consumption per capita, per day, and (3) educating the public regarding the negative health consequences of consuming excess sweeteners.
