Soda sales fizzle among SNAP recipients in first 6 months of RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement

It’s a sugar crash.

Soda sales have fizzled out in the US after junk food was banned in some states for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients, according to a new study.

Sales of soda fell around 12% among SNAP recipients after the bans were introduced in 10 states as part of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, STAT News reported, citing findings of a study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research.

That translated to a person drinking roughly 34 fewer 12-ounce cans of soda per year.

The study’s authors used data from the first half of 2026 on grocery purchases in 15,000 food stamp households, of which just over 20% were in the 10 states that had implemented restrictions on soda, candy and other junk food purchases.

President Trump has supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement. Getty Images

It is the first study of its kind since the earliest state-level bans were brought in on Jan. 1 in Utah and April 1 in Texas.

Further programs were launched throughout the spring, with a total of 23 states receiving waivers from the US Department of Agriculture to implement restrictions on junk food.

Bans are currently suspended in five of those states — Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia — after a federal ruling.

Soda sales dropped 12% among SNAP recipients since the bans were brought in in 10 states. Christopher Sadowski

The study’s authors say the drop in sugary drink sales could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 2.6% over the next 10 years per patient, resulting in some 34,000 fewer cases in the US.

Soda and other sweetened beverages are to blame for roughly 1 million new cases of heart disease and 2 million new type 2 diabetics worldwide each year, according to a 2025 study published in Nature Medicine.

“It leads to a billion dollars of savings for the health care system. Given how big the health care system is, it’s a drop in the bucket. On the other hand, it’s $1 billion a year,” said study co-author Matt Notowidigdo, economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

“If the goal is to reduce obesity, reduce the cases of diabetes caused by people being overweight and overconsuming sugary beverages, this is probably one part of a broader set of policies,” he added.

But the study also showed that SNAP recipients weren’t always making healthier choices with the money saved on junk food.

Up to 39% of the money not spent on soda was used to purchase other sugary drinks and fruit juices not facing restrictions.

“If the goal is to reduce sugar consumption, you want the ban to be more comprehensive, not less,” Notowidigdo said.

The study was supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, whose founder, Michael Bloomberg, infamously proposed a 16-ounce size cap on sodas in New York in 2012 when he was the city’s mayor.

His organization has also worked to tax sugary beverages across the US and elsewhere.