In April 2018, South Africa introduced an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. This tax is in line with the growing international trend to tax unhealthy foods to slow down the obesity epidemic. Obesity is likely to become an increasingly important issue for the public health community in decades to come, and REEP wants to support the debate by creating policy-relevant research in this area. To date we have been involved in a small number of research papers in this area, and have supported the government in implementing this tax, based on our experience in tobacco control.