It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, April 03, 2026
Sugary drink taxes may not be effective in fast-food settings
Analysis of nearly 7 billion Taco Bell transactions finds sugary drink taxes not linked to lower beverage calorie purchases
Taxes on sugary drinks had no effect on beverage calorie purchases from fast-food chain restaurants in the U.S., according to a new study by Brian Elbel and Pasquale Rummo from NYU Grossman School of Medicine and colleagues publishing April 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.
Sugary drink taxes have been adopted in several U.S. jurisdictions as a public health strategy to curb sugar consumption and improve dietary behaviors. Research on the impact of these taxes on grocery stores purchases attribute sugary drink taxes to an estimated 15% decrease in sales. However, whether this translates to an impact in restaurant sales has not been well studied.
Researchers analyzed six years of sales data (2015–2020) from more than 7,300 Taco Bell locations nationwide, focusing on drive‑through purchases. The study compared beverage calories per transaction at 60 restaurants across five jurisdictions with sugary drink taxes—Albany, California; Cook County, Illinois; Oakland, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington—with a matched group of similar restaurants in areas without such taxes.
Overall, the analysis found no significant association between sugary drink taxes and beverage calories per transaction, suggesting that sugary drink taxes of this size or alone may not substantially reduce beverage calorie consumption in fast food restaurant settings.
The authors note that consumer behavior in restaurants—such as choosing combo meals or prioritizing convenience—may limit the effectiveness of these policies.
Elbel adds, “Using millions of transactions from six years of sales data, we found that sugary beverage taxes did not influence beverage calories when implemented in five cities in the U.S.”
Rummo notes, “These results suggest that sugary drink taxes may not be effective in reducing beverage calorie consumption in fast food restaurants, as compared to supermarkets. This could be because the sizes of sugary drink taxes in the U.S. are too small for consumers or that they just aren’t responsive to price changes in these settings, among other reasons.”
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: https://plos.io/4sFufx5
Citation: Rummo PE, Echenique JA, Wu E, Mijanovich T, Desai SM, Bragg MA, et al. (2026) Impact of sugary drink taxes on beverage calories purchased in a national fast food restaurant chain: A quasi-experimental study. PLoS Med 23(4): e1004642. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004642
Author countries: United States of America
Funding: This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, grant number 5R01HL147474 (PER, JAE, EW, TM, SM, MAB, BCW, BE). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Taco Bell was aware of the research question before agreeing to data sharing but did not sponsor this study and had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Gaorong Li and colleagues have uncovered a new fossil assemblage in the Jiangchuan Biota in Yunnan, Southwest China that fills a critical gap in our knowledge of the transition between the strange, soft-bodied animals of the Ediacaran period and the ancestral forms of almost all modern animal life during the Cambrian period. Little is known about this period of significant geological and biological upheaval, so finding a fossil assemblage from this time (roughly 575-539 million years ago) could provide insight into one of the planet’s most spectacular periods of animal diversification. Li et al. identified more than 700 specimens, including new taxa, preserved as carbonaceous films at the site. Among the specimens are a mix of Ediacaran and Cambrian-like body plans, many with well-preserved eating and locomotion structures. The fossil assemblage contains several bilaterian specimens (animals characterized by bilateral symmetry in their embryonic stage, which dominate modern animal species), suggesting bilaterians may have begun to diversify earlier than suspected.
A newly discovered fossil site in southwest China has transformed our understanding of how complex animal life emerged on Earth, revealing that many key animal groups had already evolved before the start of the Cambrian Period. The study, led by researchers at Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History and Department of Earth Sciences as well as Yunnan University in China, has been published today (02 April) in Science.
Lead author Dr Gaorong Li (Yunnan University at the time of the study, now Museum of Natural History, Oxford University), said: “Our discovery closes a major gap in the earliest phases of animal diversification. For the first time, we demonstrate that many complex animals, normally only found in the Cambrian, were present in the Ediacaran period, meaning that they evolved much earlier than previously demonstrated by fossil evidence.”
Among these fossil specimens were ancestors of modern starfish and their closest relatives, the acorn worms (the Ambulacraria**). These fossils have a U-shaped body and were attached to the seafloor with a stalk, with a pair of tentacles on their head used to catch food.
Co-author Dr Frankie Dunn (Museum of Natural History, Oxford University) said: “The presence of these ambulacrarians in the Ediacaran period is really exciting. We have already found fossils which are distant relatives of starfish and sea cucumbers and are looking for more. The discovery of ambulacrarian fossils in the Jiangchuan biota also means that the chordates – animals with a backbone – must also have existed at this time.”
Other ancestral groups among the fossils included worm-like bilaterian animals (having bilateral symmetry), some with complex feeding adaptations, alongside rare fossils interpreted as early comb jellies.
Many specimens showed novel combinations of anatomical features (such as tentacles, stalks, attachment discs, and feeding structures that can be turned inside out) that do not match any known Ediacaran or Cambrian species. “For instance, one specimen looks a lot like the sand worm from Dune!” Dr Dunn added.
Co-author Associate Professor Luke Parry (Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University) added: “This discovery is extremely exciting because it reveals atransitional community: the weird world of the Ediacaran giving way to the Cambrian, the following time period where the animals are much easier to place in groups that are alive today. When we first saw these specimens, it was clear that this was something totally unique and unexpected.”
The new findings help to resolve a long-standing puzzle in evolutionary biology. While molecular studies and trace fossils suggested that animal lineages diversified well before the Cambrian explosion, up to now fossils of many of these groups of complex animals have been missing from the Ediacaran period.
Unlike most Ediacaran fossil sites, which preserve organisms mainly as impressions on sandstone surfaces, the Jiangchuan Biota fossils are preserved as carbonaceous films, a mode of preservation more typical of famous Cambrian sites such as the Burgess Shale in Canada. This exceptional preservation reveals anatomical details such as feeding structures, guts and locomotory organs.
Co-author Associate Professor Ross Anderson (Museum of Natural History, Oxford University) said: “Our results indicate that the apparent absence of these complex animal groups from other Ediacaran sites may reflect differences in preservation rather than true biological absence. Carbonaceous compressions like those at Jiangchuan are rare in rocks of this age, meaning that similar communities may simply not have been preserved elsewhere.”
The new fossils were discovered by a research group in Yunnan University, China, led by Professor Peiyun Cong and Associate Professor Fan Wei, who have spent nearly ten years looking for diverse Ediacaran animal fossils. The rocks from Eastern Yunnan were already known to contain fossils but previously had yielded only remains of algae and not animals.
Associate Professor Fan said: “After years of fieldwork, we finally found several sites with the right conditions where animal fossils are preserved together with the abundant algae.”
Professor Feng Tang from the Chinese Academy of Geological Science, Beijing, whose previous work on the site inspired the team’s decade-long fieldwork effort, said: “The new fossils provide the most compelling evidence for the presence of diverse bilaterian animals at the end of the Ediacaran, evidence people have searched for across decades.” *Pronounced ‘jing-choo-an.’
** Ambulacraria, from the latin ambulacrum, meaning "a walk planted with trees."
The study ‘The dawn of the Phanerozoic: a transitional fauna from the late Ediacaran of Southwest China’ will be published in Science on 19:00 BST / 14:00 ET Thursday 02 April 2026, DOI 10.1126/science.adu2291. Advance copies of the paper may be obtained from the Science press package, SciPak, at https://www.eurekalert.org/press/scipak/ or by contacting scipak@aaas.org
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.
Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing around £16.9 billion to the UK economy in 2021/22, and supports more than 90,400 full time jobs.
The Haootia-like fossil (an early cnidarian – the phylum that includes jellyfish, sea anemones and corals) from the Jiangchuan Biota (~554-539 million years old). Scale bar: 2mm. Credit: Gaorong Li.
A deuterostome cambroernid fossil from the Jiangchuan Biota (~554-539 million years old), scale bar: 2mm. Credit: Gaorong Li.
A deuterostome cambroernid fossil from the Jiangchuan Biota (~554-539 million years old). Scale bar 2 mm. Credit: Gaorong Li.
A newly-discovered vermiform fossil from the Jiangchuan Biota (~554-539 million years old) with holdfast to anchor it to the ocean floor. Scale bar 5mm. Credit: Gaorong Li.
A deuterostome cambroernid fossil from the Jiangchuan Biota (~554-539 million years old) and artist’s reconstruction, scale bar: 2mm. Credit: Gaorong Li & Xiaodong Wang.
US courts have ruled against platform providers for failing to protect children, and the debate over age restrictions for social media has gained momentum. An international group of experts from academia, children’s rights organizations and non-profit institutions is convinced that bans would be the wrong approach. In the journal Science they advocate for new strategies for the digital safety of children and youths aged 13 and older. Prof. Sandra Cortesi and Prof. Urs Gasser from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) explain when artificial intelligence could intervene on smartphones, what role peer groups can play and why children should be involved in shaping their digital education.
In the US, Meta and Google were ordered to pay substantial fines just a few days ago for failing to adequately protect children and youths on their social media and video platforms, respectively. What significance do these rulings hold in light of your working group’s findings?
Urs Gasser: These rulings could mark a turning point because they underscore that child safety in the digital world is not simply a matter of harmful content, but also a matter of platform design. The courts have examined how platforms are built, what kinds of risks their features generate and whether companies can be held responsible when those risks are foreseeable and insufficiently addressed. These questions strike at the heart of our working group’s recommendations: designing digital spaces to ensure safety, agency and well-being of children and youths from the outset. In the context of the cases heard in the US, this means excluding features that can be addictive and providing protection against abuse by adults.
Several countries have banned social media for children under a certain age or are planning to do so. Why are you opposed to a ban?
Urs Gasser: Our argument is not against regulation. Legal requirements are indispensable. However, we believe that policymakers should do more than just establish red lines. Rather, they should require providers to design their platforms and products in a child-friendly manner. That is more demanding than a blanket ban, but also more promising. After all, what we really want is for children and youths to be able to learn how to use media autonomously and in a way that has a positive impact on them.
The working group proposes using AI to make the platforms safer.
Sandra Cortesi: In addition to banning clearly harmful features, new tools can empower older children and youths to act autonomously within an age-appropriate framework. Artificial intelligence can detect and intervene when adolescents are at risk. For example, AI could say: “I see that you’ve been looking at a lot of posts about weight loss lately. I see that you’re interacting with three people who support that. I’d like to recommend three posts with a different perspective.” AI could also recognize that a teenager wants to take a selfie showing a lot of bare skin and ask: “Are you sure you want to take this selfie? Think about what you want to do with it.” Similarly, if a child is contacted by someone who usually only interacts with adults, AI can assume that the person is an adult and display a corresponding warning.
That seems like the providers would find out a lot of personal information.
Sandra Cortesi: Such analyses must take place exclusively on the devices themselves and must not be transmitted to the operators. But even if privacy is guaranteed, it would be ideal if families sat down together to consider: What kind of media consumption do we want? What is, so to speak, our diet plan for the digital world? Then, the device or platform shows us all the options we can enable or disable to achieve that goal. For example, I mainly want to see positive content. If the AI notices that I’m straying from that path, it supports me. Older teens might decide: “I want to have my own experiences for three months and don’t want the AI watching me or telling me anything.” At the family level, we also consider bans to be less effective than having this kind of discussion. On the one hand, because this strengthens trust and self-efficacy. On the other hand, many children and youths already know how to bypass the restrictions their parents have set on their smartphones. However, it’s clear that not all families have the time or expertise for these considerations, which is why protective default settings are very important.
Even the best settings and legal requirements likely won't completely prevent young people from encountering disturbing content or digital violence. What should be done in this case?
Urs Gasser: Research shows that it is important for older children and youths to be able to report such content and incidents anonymously and receive immediate support. In many cases, they feel ashamed and guilty. Therefore, it is important that such reports do not go unnoticed for weeks, but rather that understanding is shown and help is offered immediately. Ideally, other young people would say: "I understand you. I’ve been through this too." Some countries already have support services where trained young people, with professional support, serve as contact persons. Such services should become standard.
The working group also suggests that it shouldn’t just be companies that involve children and youths in the design process. Schools should also place greater emphasis on participation.
Sandra Cortesi: Many young people say they don’t feel comfortable or happy. They see a future full of dangers and feel they have no control over their own lives. By involving children and youths, schools have a tremendous opportunity, on the one hand, to show them a future in which the digital world isn’t just full of a thousand risks, and on the other hand, to empower them with a sense of self-efficacy. The message wouldn’t be: “We’ll show you how the digital world works.” Rather, it would be: “We as schools have a lot to learn from you, because we may not know all the tools, but you know exactly how to use them. As adults, we also have important contributions to make, such as our social values and experience. Let's create learning content together.” This would go a long way toward ensuring the digital safety of children and young people.
About the interviewees: Sandra Cortesi is a professor of Participation and Diversity in Digital Societies at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). She heads the new Youth and Media Lab at the TUM Think Tank. Previously, Cortesi conducted research at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she is a Faculty Associate today. She is also a Senior Research and Teaching Associate at the University of Zurich. She has obtained a PhD in psychology.
Urs Gasser is a professor of Public Policy, Governance and Innovative Technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He is Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology as well as Rector of the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (HfP) at TUM. Previously, he was Executive Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and a professor at Harvard Law School.
Further information: The Frontiers in Digital Child Safety project brought together more than 40 experts from academia, children’s rights organizations and non-profit institutions in the fields of social sciences, technology, design, psychology and law. The project was funded by Apple Inc. The project group was coordinated at the TUM Think Tank by Prof. Sandra Cortesi and Prof. Urs Gasser in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and the University of Zurich. The TUM Think Tank brings together academia, civil society, politics and business to jointly develop solutions and tools for pressing societal problems.
