In our classrooms this year, 1 out of every 7 kids ages 2-11 will suffer from obesity. That rate has been on the rise, with childhood obesity tripling and adolescent obesity quadrupling since the 1980s. Politicians across the U.S. have tried to tackle this problem, using obesity as their keynote public policy platforms, and yet the results have been less than satisfactory. Obesity rates are rising, and its biggest culprit is something that kids are still drinking every day.

The CDC says that two-thirds of kids have at least one sugar sweetened beverage, or SSB, per day. Simultaneously, pediatricians are seeing instances of type 2 diabetes and heart disease at younger and younger ages in their patients. This is not a coincidence.

Substantial evidence has shown that added sugar significantly increases the risk of obesity and tooth decay, with growing evidence of their negative impacts on insulin resistance. In fact experts predict that if we stay on the track we are currently on, 42% of Americans will be obese by 2030, and 33% of Americans will have diabetes by 2050.

When you combine that with the fact that one third of an American’s total sugar intake comes from sugar sweetened beverages, and that consumption of these SSBs is consistently documented to cause many of these preventable diseases, it becomes clear that we have a health crisis on our hands. One that is impacting our children, our families, and burdening our healthcare system.

Given the negative impacts and prevalence of SSBs, a beverage tax is a natural incentive for distributors to think twice about promoting and selling these types of products.

This is what the city of Santa Cruz is proposing on the November 5, 2024, ballot with Measure Z. This is a two cents per ounce tax on the distribution of sugar sweetened beverages. This means a 12-ounce soda would cost an extra 24 cents on the point of distribution – that’s less than a quarter.

If passed, Measure Z is expected to generate $1.3 million for the city of Santa Cruz. An oversight body will provide accountability and recommend how the funds should be spent, focusing on city services and programs that improve city resident’s health and well-being.

Many other communities have implemented this tax, and research shows that it has been exceedingly successful. A meta-analysis conducted on 62 studies regarding the impact of SSB tax policies found that the average reduction in sales of SSBs was approximately 15%. Another study performed by Kaiser compared cities with SSB taxes to those without and found that children in cities with SSB taxes had a lower Body Mass Index after tax approval, when these taxes were re-invested in local children’s health.

If expanded and implemented in California (state-wide), it has been estimated that a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Measure could prevent 266,000 cases of obesity by 2032, leading to a 7% reduction in diabetes incidence within a year. This would be expected to save the state $4.55 billion in healthcare expenses; and that is money that can be reallocated to preventative health care.

The research is clear: sugar is having a detrimental impact on our health. So, is having soda distributors pay a couple pennies on their products really that big of an ask considering how much they profit from harming our health?

The Pediatric Health Workgroup, a program of the Health Improvement Partnership of Santa Cruz County, includes participants from multiple local healthcare organizations, the County Office of Education, and the County’s Health Services Agency. For more information about the group, visit, https://www.hipscc.org/pediatrichealthworkgroup.