Funding for research on improving health through food subsidies and taxes - Jul 2022

The Universities of Oxford and Exeter will lead an assessment of the impact of food subsidies and taxes on public and planetary health, through a £1.4 million funding grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The project will investigate a range of subsidies and taxes that the public believe could help people achieve healthy, sustainable diets. For example, they will assess how subsidies of fruit and vegetables could encourage consumers to take up healthier choices when it comes to the weekly food shop – or to what extent new taxes of foods that are high in salt and saturated fats could impact consumers’ shopping habits.

Richard Smith, Professor of Health Economics at the University of Exeter, who is leading the project, said: “Food subsidies and taxes are a major policy concern in the UK and globally, but teasing out evidence is incredibly complex in substantiating arguments behind new policy proposals. We’re delighted in being able to secure funding to engage with colleagues at Oxford, Reading, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the Food Foundation on this study.”

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University of Exeter Medical School News

Date: 27 July 2020