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Here in New York, the pending¹ state budget includes one provision that’s probably making more news than the rest of the budget’s contents combined: a tax on non-diet soda² and other high-calorie drinks. If the budget is passed by the legislature, sugary drinks would be slapped with an extra penny-per-ounce excise³ tax. The idea is to both raise money for the state—an estimated billion dollars a year—and motivate people to consume less soda. But do higher costs really get people to eat more healthfully?

A study published in the March 8th issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine says yes. Researchers tracked the eating habits and health of over 5,000 young adults for two decades. They found that a 10 percent increase in the price of soda was associated with a 7 percent decrease in soda calories consumed. Higher prices were also associated with lower total calorie intake⁴, lower body weight and improved insulin resistance.

The higher tax is, of course, a political decision, not a scientific one. But the science does support the idea that such sin taxes accomplish their healthful intent.

Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American's Sixty Seconds Science. I am Steve Mirsky.