SynthesisBMC public health2023
Effect of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation on sugars intake and dental caries: an umbrella review of a global perspective.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Childhood Caries.International dental journal · 2025Guideline
- Trial
- Remarkable decline and sustained low levels of caries in the Nordic populations-Explanations and implications for public oral health.European journal of oral sciences · 2026Review
- Enamel Caries in Young Adults and Progression From Adolescence: Fit Futures, a Longitudinal Cohort Study.International dental journal · 2026Article
- The impact of the UK soft drink industry levy on ethnic inequalities in admission rates for caries-related extractions.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of caries induced by sugars: a narratives review from microbial metabolism to oral ecological imbalance and public health strategies for caries prevention.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Drivers of food acquisition practices among adolescents in suburban food environments of Lao People's Democratic Republic.Global health action · 2025Article
- Rejecting Health as a Justification for Junk Food Taxes.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2025Article
- Lifestyles associated with complete tooth loss in elderly people in Brazil, 2019.Epidemiologia e servicos de saude : revista do Sistema Unico de Saude do Brasil · 2025Article
- Why do my patients still have early childhood caries? a critical appraisal.Brazilian oral research · 2025Review
- Addressing health inequalities: a case study on an oral health promotion program in New Caledonia.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Effects of a Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax on Caries in Italy: A Modelling Study.Caries research · 2025Article
- Every bite counts to achieve oral health: a scoping review on diet and oral health preventive practices.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Inequalities in oral health: estimating the longitudinal economic burden of dental caries by deprivation status in six countries.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Determinants of oral health among Iranian soldiers: a structural equation modeling study.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- U.S. food policy to address diet-related chronic disease.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Evidence-Informed Oral Health Policy Making: Opportunities and Challenges.Journal of dental research · 2023Review
- Social and Preventive Factors That Explain Oral Health among Pregnant Women in the Canton of Cuenca, Ecuador.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs part of the Global Strategy on Oral health, the World Health Organization (WHO) is exploring cost-effective interventions for oral health, including taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). To inform this process, this umbrella review aimed to identify the best available estimates pertaining to the impact of SSB taxation on the reduction of sugars intake, and the sugars-caries dose-response, such that estimates of the impact of SSB taxation on averting dental caries in both high (HIC) and low and middle (LMIC) countries be available.
methodsThe questions addressed were: (1) what are the effects of SSB taxation on consumption of SSBs and (2) sugars? (3) What is the effect on caries of decreasing sugars? and (4) what is the likely impact of a 20% volumetric SSB tax on the number of active caries prevented over 10 years? Data sources included PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source, Cochrane Library, Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Systematic Review Register, and PROSPERO. The review was conducted with reference to JBI guidelines. The quality of included systematic reviews was assessed using AMSTAR to identify best evidence.
resultsFrom 419 systematic reviews identified for questions 1 & 2, and 103 for question 3, 48 (Questions 1 & 2) and 21 (Question 3) underwent full text screening, yielding 14 and five included reviews respectively. Best available data indicated a 10% tax would reduce SSB intake by 10.0% (95% CI: -5.0, 14.7%) in HIC and by 9% (range -6.0 to 12.0%) in LMIC, and that a 20% tax would reduce free sugars intake on average by 4.0 g/d in LMIC and 4.4 g/d in HIC. Based on best available dose response data, this could reduce the number of teeth with caries per adults (HIC and LMIC) by 0.03 and caries occurrence in children by 2.7% (LMIC) and 2.9% (HIC), over a 10-year period.
conclusionBest available data suggest a 20% volumetric SSB tax would have a modest impact on prevalence and severity of dental caries in both HIC and LMIC.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.