PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Laura Cornelsen
AU  - Oliver T Mytton
AU  - Jean Adams
AU  - Antonio Gasparrini
AU  - Dalia Iskander
AU  - Cecile Knai
AU  - Mark Petticrew
AU  - Courtney Scott
AU  - Richard Smith
AU  - Claire Thompson
AU  - Martin White
AU  - Steven Cummins
TI  - Change in non-alcoholic beverage sales following a 10-pence levy on sugar-sweetened beverages within a national chain of restaurants in the UK: interrupted time series analysis of a natural experiment
AID  - 10.1136/jech-2017-209947
DP  - 2017 Sep 22
TA  - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
PG  - jech-2017-209947
4099  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2017/09/21/jech-2017-209947.short
4100  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2017/09/21/jech-2017-209947.full
AB  - Background This study evaluates changes in sales of non-alcoholic beverages in Jamie’s Italian, a national chain of commercial restaurants in the UK, following the introduction of a £0.10 per-beverage levy on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and supporting activity including beverage menu redesign, new products and establishment of a children’s health fund from levy proceeds.Methods We used an interrupted time series design to quantify changes in sales of non-alcoholic beverages 12 weeks and 6 months after implementation of the levy, using itemised electronic point of sale data. Main outcomes were number of SSBs and other non-alcoholic beverages sold per customer. Linear regression and multilevel random effects models, adjusting for seasonality and clustering, were used to investigate changes in SSB sales across all restaurants (n=37) and by tertiles of baseline restaurant SSB sales per customer.Results Compared with the prelevy period, the number of SSBs sold per customer declined by 11.0% (−17.3% to −4.3%) at 12 weeks and 9.3% (−15.2% to −3.2%) at 6 months. For non-levied beverages, sales per customer of children’s fruit juice declined by 34.7% (−55.3% to −4.3%) at 12 weeks and 9.9% (−16.8% to −2.4%) at 6 months. At 6 months, sales per customer of fruit juice increased by 21.8% (14.0% to 30.2%) but sales of diet cola (−7.3%; −11.7% to −2.8%) and bottled waters (−6.5%; −11.0% to −1.7%) declined. Changes in sales were only observed in restaurants in the medium and high tertiles of baseline SSB sales per customer.Conclusions Introduction of a £0.10 levy on SSBs alongside complementary activities is associated with declines in SSB sales per customer in the short and medium term, particularly in restaurants with higher baseline sales of SSBs.