From the 1880s to the 1980s, “the Cola Wars” meant Coke v. Pepsi in a celebrity-studded advertising battle for consumers’ dollars. Now it's big soda battling states and countries who want to reduce consumption–and ultimately, their health care bills–by taxing the sugary stuff.

“There are a lot of contributors to obesity and diabetes—not just soda—but it’s low-hanging fruit because there’s no other [nutritional] value,” Mats Junek, regional director of the Americas at NCDFREE, an Australian-based group that advocates for solutions to non-communicable diseases, tells The Plate.

Results are starting to trickle in. Mexico, which has the highest obesity rates in the world, passed a soda tax in 2013. Along with educational programs, the tax is credited with a 12 percent