New data by ONS show that in 2024: ➡️ Infants born in England’s most deprived areas were over twice as likely to die as those in the least deprived. ⚖️These differences in health outcomes are unacceptable. Read our recommendations for reducing health inequalities. ➡️ bit.ly/4fh9lRc bit.ly/3RisZ5z

New research to be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul next week, led by Prof Emma Boyland, shows just how powerful the current food environment is in driving children’s requests for less healthy food ⬇️ www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

All classrooms should be free from corporate influence.

The wellness industry’s influence goes beyond dubious health claims. Our new article led by @karremannancy.bsky.social with @spidermaani.bsky.social and Benjamin Hawkins examines the wellness industry from a commercial determinants of health perspective. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

For the reading list: a commercial determinants of health lens on the wellness industry and MAHA. Expect this to be compelling and insightful.

Nancy Karreman@karremannancy.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New paper out! 📢 The #wellness industry is a multi-trillion $ force: selling products, shaping norms, and now influencing policy. But it's rarely analysed in the way we scrutinize tobacco or pharma. We apply a commercial determinants of health lens to wellness, including #MAHA. Short thread 🧵⤵️

This is the gift of the generational sales ban. A longer future with our loved ones. We will look back on today as the law passes as a watershed moment. The UK has moved from being a country that was gradually reducing smoking to one that will, sooner or later, end smoking.

David Buck@davidjbuck.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Future generations will end up thanking this one for this, if perhaps for little else. A huge endeavour over time by many. My parents died of smoking-related disease, only managing to stop smoking far too late for them, addicted to the product that helped speed their demise.

This seems, you know, bad. Healthy Life Expectancy is the number of years we can expect to live in 'good' health or better. It's fallen by 2 years since 2012-14 and now sits at just under 61 years for both men and women. www.health.org.uk/reports-and-...

Underlying research: bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/4/2/...

Alcohol Review@alcoholreview.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Longer opening hours for Aberdeen pubs brought a rise in crime and alcohol-related ambulance call-outs, research found. There was a 11.4% increase in ambulance calls on weekend nights and an 8.5% increase in reported crimes over three-and-a-half years. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The board of British American Tobacco, one of the most powerful and profitable #TobaccoCompanies in the world, met in London yesterday. They had a lot to say about their business and @tcrgbath.bsky.social & @ashorguk.bsky.social were there to hear it.

Interesting research funding opportunity below:

Louise Arseneault@larseneault.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The @wellcometrust.bsky.social has opened a new funding opportunity for UK-based research teams to evaluate the mental health impacts of potential digital technology and social media restriction policies for children and young people. Check it out here: wellcome.org/mental-healt... 🧵1/2

We are offering a unique opportunity for #PublicHealth registrars to contribute to the @lhgp.bsky.social research consortium. Full details here: www.phiuk.org/news/lhgp-na... Deadline for applications: 9 am, Tuesday 28 April.

LHGP placement opportunity for public health speciality registrars

LHGP placement opportunity for public health speciality registrars

phiuk.org

NEW Social media platforms have a serious legal problem And this problem pre-dates the defeat of Meta and Google in the Kaley GM jury trial Me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk on why Meta and Google lost this case - months before the actual trial www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

Looks great, important to keep up with the latest merchants of doubt and ask whose interests are served:

Harvard History of Science Department@harvardhistsci.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Join Us in Two Weeks for The Frederick A. Jakobiec Lecture, featuring Alondra Nelson: "Algorithmic Agnotology: On AI, Knowledge, and Power" – Thursday, April 9 at 4:00pm

Missed our Business of #Health #Misinformation #webinar? Watch it now on YouTube. With 79% of the UK on social media and 22% getting health information there (rising to 40% among Gen Z), the stakes around misinformation have never been higher. youtu.be/j3CRlSeHZio @spidermaani.bsky.social

The Business of Health Misinformation - Local Health and Global Profits webinar

YouTube video by Population Health Improvement UK

youtu.be

I'm teaching Mauss' The Gift today in my Modernity & Markets class. I love this text. He claims the logic of the gift economy underlies 'modern' economies, even if we pretend otherwise, suggesting in particular that the welfare state is a gift to workers from the state in recompense for their labor.

Absolutely unable to cope with either "Daddy! Fences" or "Daddy! Snacks"

Jillean McCommons@jilleanmc.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Saw this and thought of you. Family, mobility, joy, learning. So much good. Plus, the little handlebars!

Here is the World Happiness Report 2026 www.worldhappiness.report/ed/2026/

World Happiness Report 2026

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent ed...

worldhappiness.report

Weekend reading: A how-to on writing laws to protect kids against food marketing While I am on the topic of legal challenges, UNICEF has produced an invaluable resource. PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM UNHEALTHY FOOD MARKETING: A Toolkit for Developing Effective Laws. It is based on a previous UNICEF…

The Faculty of Public Health recognises that the severe outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent is deeply concerning to local residents, students, parents, and the wider community. Read our statement here www.fph.org.uk/news/faculty...

Faculty of Public Health statement on outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent

The Faculty of Public Health recognises that the severe outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent is deeply concerning to local residents, students, parents, and the wider community.

fph.org.uk

ADPH President @felly500.bsky.social joins Dr Margaret McCartney to unpack how commercial interests shape healthcare. In today's episode, Greg looks at why industry goals often clash with public health & how conflicts of interest affect clinical practice.🎧 Listen now: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - Money, Influence and the NHS, Nice shoes, now about those drugs!

Dr Margaret McCartney’s quest to reveal conflicts of interest.

bbc.co.uk

Prompt: How do I start my story of my expeditions?

Society for Cultural Anthropology@culanth.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Some PhDoh's are still doing research like the original affluent society. Other PhA+'s have PERFECTED research with AI. Try out these *insane* Claude (Levi-Strauss) prompts and shortcut your way to a billion—yes, with a B!—dollars of research funding!!! (save this)

"Research should not only be independent of vested interests but must also be seen to be so" My @bmj.com piece with @fphuk.bsky.social president Tracy Daszkiewicz argues we need a public health approach to study the impact of digital technology on health. #CDOH www.bmj.com/content/392/...

A comprehensive public health approach is needed to study the impact of digital technology on health

Barely a day goes by without media and political concern about the impact of digital technology on health, particularly among young people. The publication of a recent government report, “Understandin...

bmj.com

Important piece on 'evidential landscaping', conflicts of interest and limitations in the evidence base, in research on digital technologies and health

Peter Tennant@pwgtennant.bsky.social · 7mo ago

"Research should not only be independent of vested interests but must also be seen to be so" My @bmj.com piece with @fphuk.bsky.social president Tracy Daszkiewicz argues we need a public health approach to study the impact of digital technology on health. #CDOH www.bmj.com/content/392/...

🔔 NEW   Calling for a more coherent policy response to driving harm   ✍️ Kate Gray, Grant Ennis, Greg Fell   OPEN ACCESS doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daag026

Facts alone don't change minds—trusted messengers and empathetic conversations do. Shaming vaccine-hesitant parents drives them away. Meeting people with empathy is where real change begins. The goal isn't to win an argument, it's to protect children. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/o...

Opinion | I Grew Up Unvaccinated. Now I’m an Immunologist.

nytimes.com

Remember to watch Ep3 of Our Hospital Through Time tonight at 8pm on Channel 5. There's more of us showing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social our collection items and history of St Bartholomew's Hospital! #History #Archives @bartscharity.bsky.social @bartsnorthwing.bsky.social

It was a busy old week last week, 3 new papers published and I spent Friday in Liverpool speaking at the RCGP conference on Managing Addictions in Primary Care about our alcohol policy research and recent developments in UK alcohol policy (both good and bad)...

Following his keynote speech at this week's @local.gov.uk/ADPH public health conference, ADPH President @felly500.bsky.social writes about the pivotal role local government has in improving the nation's health & why that isn't the same as reducing demand on healthcare. 👀 Read now ➡️ bit.ly/4aUc7s2

Join us on 23 March (15:30–17:00) for our upcoming webinar: The Business of Health Misinformation. We will explore how social media platforms are shaping health outcomes and spreading misinformation, and what this means for conflicts of interest between the social media industry and #PublicHealth.