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  • Publication | 2026
Fiscal policy repurposing as a tool to enable healthy diets
Global Food and Nutrition Security

This report reviews how fiscal policy repurposing – through taxes and subsidies – can be used as a lever to promote healthier diets and advance global nutrition and non-communicable diseases targets. It first maps the international policy landscape using a documentary scan of multilateral frameworks, grey literature, and global databases, tracing how fiscal measures have been progressively endorsed in nutrition and food systems agendas. It then systematically assesses effectiveness based on 29 systematic, umbrella and scoping reviews (2015–2025), covering around 900 primary evaluations and simulations of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes, taxes on foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS), and subsidies or incentives for nutrient-dense foods.Evidence shows that fiscal measures can shift diets: SSB taxes reduce consumption, HFSS taxes deliver modest gains when rates are high, and subsidies increase intake of nutritious foods. Yet most evidence comes from high-income settings, and long-term health effects remain underexamined. Current fiscal systems still favour taxes over positive incentives and prioritize staples over nutrient-dense foods. Coherent fiscal repurposing therefore represents a promising but underused strategy to improve diet quality and equity.