Have people bought less fizzy drink as a result of the sugar tax?

[Alloverthegrapevine]

I'm looking for something that suggests increasing the cost resulted in people changing their habits. I.e. why government think expanding it is a good idea. I haven't seen anything.

In our family, those who previously drank Coke are still making a point of buying "full fat" and pay the extra, but we were probably not the target as fizzy drinks have always been a once a week treat.

Have people stopped or reduced the amount they buy? Have they switched to sugar free versions? I'm afraid I'm not at all convinced they are preferable for health, or even for obesity.

Apologies, if the data is there I should be able to find it, but I haven't succeeded in that search.

@Feawen most of the data (IRI who buy/sell sales data from supermarkets and concenience stores or Kantar who have a panel of households scanning all of their purchases) is not freely available (it costs manufacturers significant amounts to buy it). There are some academic studies that use other methodologies to look at the impact such as this one that summaries

"The SDIL was not associated with a reduction in the size of the soft drinks marketplace."

Thanks Blankiefan for sharing what info you can :)

If I have a Coca-Cola I want it cold, freshly opened and ”full fat” as I find it more refreshing. Don't really like fizzy orange or any other fizzy drinks apart from Cream Soda.

I only drink soft drinks when I go out as otherwise it would be water. I cannot have sweetners, they give me a headache, stomach issues and taste awful. So now I don't go out as much as who wants to drink water on a night out.

My friends still drink full fat, they also hate sweetners.

I find sugar-free drinks don’t satisfy me, I could literally drink litres and litres to quench my thirst.

However one can of Coca Cola suits me fine, quenches my thirst and gives me the sugar that I crave.

My DH was a full fat coke man and now has Coke Zero or Pepsi Max. It's because it's cheaper and sold more places.
I remember when Pepsi Max was launched and its much nicer than Diet Pepsi.

We've only ever had sugar free squash and I've always drank diet, but try not to have more than one can of diet something a day due to cost and chemicals.

NO. I hate the taste that comes with diet drinks, the false saccharin taste you get, so stick to full fat coke, but I generally only drink it if I am out having a meal. I carry water most of the time. It has annoyed me with them taking it off the unlimited drinks refills, as they could have kept it on but charged double or something. (Although those are all ceased due to CV anyway).

You would have to have no sense of taste whatsoever to have failed to notice the change in taste in irn bru, @HexyAndIKnowIt. Even without a reaction to aspartame. I’m surprised that anyone actually buys the lower sugar version at all. But I was always amazed that anyone could stomach the diet version anyway.

Genuinely, I think that a lot of people will just accept something that tastes a bit shit and not change their consumption habits. The entire sugar tax policy relies on this lack of change (rather than people actually liking the new versions). Over time they stop even realising that it used to taste better.

No. We buy soft drinks maybe once or twice a month and only buy full sugar drinks. I don't like diet products.

The drama if they are accidentally given a diet drink in McDonald's 🙄... (I don't fuss and change it).

I tend to drink wine or beer now as I can't stand the taste of artificial sweeteners - possibly not the desired outcome of the sugar tax

I still buy full fat. Maybe even more so as it's cheaper to buy the bigger packs than a single can. So end up buying multipacks.

They would do better making single cans cheaper then people that just want 1 as a treat would only buy 1!

My favourite fizzy drink is unsweetened lemon juice mixed with fizzy mineral water so sugar tax on soft drinks makes no difference to me. I don't like the taste of sugary or sweetened drinks. I don't like mixers either. If I was to have a gin I would have it with mineral water and some unsweetened lemon or lime.

@BabcockPeggy

I tend to drink wine or beer now as I can't stand the taste of artificial sweeteners - possibly not the desired outcome of the sugar tax

Haha me too.

I actually prefer zero coke to the normal and the other diet drinks.

I have always drunk Diet Coke but I hate Jamie Oliver with a passion for ruining Lucozade. I always drink full fat versions of everything else.

Why can't manufacturers do like the Vape juice industry have done with nicotine? Sell the drink without any sweeteners & have separate shots of sweeteners or sugar.

We don't buy fizzy drinks very often, but when we do I'd always buy the full sugar version or not buy it at all. I think artificial sweeteners taste revolting. In fact, most sugary versions have sweeteners in as well these days, but they're still better than the no-sugar versions.

It’s really pissed me off. I loved a full sugar Ribena, some lemonade or a sanpellegrino blood orange as a little treat and would occasionally buy a six pack of Pepsi Especially if I was on nights.
I can’t afford an occasional treat that I had as part of a balanced diet, and whilst Morrison’s savers fruit juice and water from the soda stream are pretty tasty it does make me sad.

It’s having a calorie deficit that causes weight loss not abstinence from sugary drinks. When I put on weight it’s because i eat 5 crumpets as a snack, and I doubt we will be banning bread anytime soon (quite rightly so)

I hate the taste of sweeteners so there is often only full-fat coke available as a soft drink for me in a bar or restaurant - even Schweppes tonic has the vile stuff (sweeteners) in now.

Fevertree tonic water doesn't have the sweeteners, and on a previous thread on this theme someone said that there was a dilutable squash from Asda that was sweetener-free but I haven't looked into that.

We also have a sodastream for fizzy water, I think Lakeland might do sweetener-free concentrates but we haven't bought any yet (just use it for plain water).

We buy as much full sugar Coke as we ever did because my T1 diabetic DH drinks it when his blood sugar is low.

Lucozade used to be the very best for bringing his sugars up quickly when necessary, but now that's been ruined.

Actually, I think we probably buy more then, as DH needed less of the Lucozade than he does of Coke.

Artificial sweeteners are bad for you, so it's just substituting sugar for something else that's not great for your health. My partner drinks same amount of coke as before - he doesn't like Pepsi or sweeteners. The cost has increased, but food costs seem to have increased in general anyway.

I buy the same amount of full sugar coke but less of everything else as its all pumped full of aspartame.

@ChrissyPlummer

No, I only ever bought full sugar drinks anyway as artificial sweeteners give me migraines and vomiting and taste bloody awful.

I order direct from Cawston Press and buy Bottle Green/Belvoir/Virgils when I can get it. I also refuse to go places that no longer serve anything full sugar as I end up with either water or tea - which I don’t view as a treat.

It annoys the crap out of me TBH; why ruin drinks but I can still buy a massive pizza/burger/portion of chips/massive chocolate bar/ice cream/hot chocolate in the same places? We have one of those pub chains near us, which thankfully serves both Cawston Press and Appletiser, they are known for their huge desserts which surely must have more sugar than a glass of fizzy drink?

This

Why can't manufacturers do like the Vape juice industry have done with nicotine? Sell the drink without any sweeteners & have separate shots of sweeteners or sugar.

Probably because sugar is a preservative as well as a sweetener.

Honestly no, but I don't drink lots of it anyway.