Recent reviews have examined the findings of spe- cific types of studies, including experimental studies11 and modeling studies,12,13 or the findings on specific out- comes, such as chronic disease.3 This review adds to the
literature by assessing international evidence from a wide range of study types and developing a classification checklist to guide assessment of study quality in this field, based on the Cochrane system used most in public health. Systematic reviews are gold standard methods for assess- ing effectiveness in public health and clinical/medical set- tings; in the present review, this method is applied to an area of broader public policy in which there is an inter- section between public health, policy, and economics. In assessing effectiveness, the effect of tax and subsidy poli- cies on consumption, which is the basis for the effect of taxes and subsidies on body weight and chronic disease was emphasized. The aim was to reduce confusion and inform policymaking by consolidating the recent evi- dence and explaining the differences in methodologies used.