Making sweet drinks more expensive cuts consumption by up to 47%, according to University of Washington (UW) researchers, which could in turn help to reduce levels of obesity and diabetes. The team looked at the effect of taxes on “sweetened beverages” in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia, 4 of 8 US cities that have recently imposed measures aimed at curbing intake of the drinks. “Lower-income households decreased their purchases of sweetened beverages by nearly 50%, while higher-income households reduced purchases by 18%,” the team said, in findings published by Health Economic…