American journal of preventive medicine
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Evidence suggests real-world beverage taxes reduce sweetened beverage purchases, but it is unknown if consumers consequently increase food or alcohol purchases. This study examines whether Philadelphia's 1.5 cents/ounce beverage tax was associated with substitution to 3 kinds of hypothesized substitutes: snacks, nontaxed beverage concentrates, and alcohol. ⋯ At the population level, there is no evidence that Philadelphia's decline in taxed beverage purchases is offset by increases in snacks or spirits purchasing, but there is evidence of substitution to beverage concentrates in supermarkets. Future studies should explore individual-level purchasing changes.
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Exercise and dietary behavioral counseling are effective clinical practices recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to reduce cardiovascular disease risk among high-risk individuals. ⋯ Despite modest improvements since 2002, up to 37% of individuals at high cardiovascular disease risk were not receiving exercise counseling, and 43% were not receiving dietary counseling in 2015. Continued implementation and scale up of effective programs to increase behavioral lifestyle counseling among high-risk populations are needed more than ever to mitigate the U.S. cardiometabolic disease burden.
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Item descriptions on restaurant menus often include claims about health and other attributes, and these are much less regulated than the language on packaged food labels. This study tests whether menu items with claims have different nutritional content from items without claims. ⋯ Items with claims were high in nutrients to limit. Additional efforts to increase transparency around excessive ingredients, such as the sodium warning labels, could be implemented by the restaurant industry.