If the intention of Mexico’s soda tax was to make people healthier, then – as Katherine Rich wrote - it “has been a whopping great failure, and new data released today in FoodNavigator-Asia confirms it.”

We’ve previously written about Mexico’s one-peso per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which has disproportionately hit the poorest in the country but has done essentially nothing to reduce obesity. “It’s time for those championing soda taxes as a magical solution for reducing obesity to accept that governments cannot simply tax people slim,” wrote Rich.

In an average daily diet of 3,024 calories, a reduction of just a sips-worth of calories is not even measurable on a bathroom scale.

Simply put, the tax did not lower consumption in any meaningful way, despite what pro-tax advocates have been crowing about for months. Rich rightly notes that many activists will just choose to disregard the facts. “I don’t expect the pro-sugar tax lobby to change their message any time soon, because for many the belief in sugar (and other food) taxes has become a religion of sorts, and facts are just an inconvenience,” she said.

To learn more about why soda taxes do not work, check out The Truth About Beverage Taxes.