Ever wondered why the balance of food on supermarket shelves is the way it is? We analysed interviews with category managers in supermarkets and retailers. Some of their answers may surprise you, and have important implications for population health. www.ijhpm.com/article_4844...

We have three great researcher jobs advertised, each for 12m, contributing to our work on generating evidence to inform food system transition. Please share widely. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... @imsepidemiology.bsky.social @jeanmadams.bsky.social @kellyparsons.bsky.social

Despite widespread industry fears the SDIL would harm their businesses, researchers found that leading UK soft drinks companies continued to experience positive growth in their share prices during its implementation. www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/blog/2020/02... (4/4)

Research by @ninarogers.bsky.social & Prof. David Conway incicates the SDIL may have reduced tooth removal in under 18's due to tooth decay by 12%, saving >5,500 hospital admissions for tooth decay with the largest reductions in children aged 0-9 years. www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/blog/2023/11... (3/4)

UK soft drinks levy linked to fall in child hospital admissions for tooth extraction - MRC Epidemiology Unit

The UK soft drinks industry levy introduced in 2018 may have reduced the number of under 18s having a tooth removed due to tooth decay by 12%. Research published today […]

mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

An analysis of UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey data led by @ninarogers.bsky.social and @jeanmadams.bsky.social found daily free sugar intake fell by 5g in children and 11g in adults following the announcement of the SDIL in 2016. www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/blog/2024/07... (2/4)

Sugar intake fell in children and adults after announcement of UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy - MRC Epidemiology Unit

An analysis of 11 years of data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey has found that daily free sugar intake fell by around 5 g in children and […]

mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

As the Soft-Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is extended to cover milkshakes and pre-packaged lattes, it's worth taking a look back at some of the findings from the evaluation of the SDIL undertaken by @martinwhite33.bsky.social and colleagues. studies.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/sdil 🧵(1/4)

Soft Drinks Industry Levy Evaluation

Evaluating whether, how and for whom the Soft Drinks Industry Levy affects on health and the wider change in public, political, societal and industry attitudes.

studies.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 9mo ago

UK to extend sugar tax to cover milkshakes and pre-packed lattes

(2/2) The Mandala Consortium comprises of researchers from: University of Cambridge (@cam.ac.uk) University of Birmingham (@unibirmingham.bsky.social) University of Warwick (@uni-of-warwick.bsky.social) University of Exeter (@exeter.ac.uk) Learn more - buff.ly/SvWbu51

(1/2) The Mandala Consortium is conducting a range of research projects across Birmingham to investigate how the food system is changing Research has found that the expansion of free school meals to all children would bring significant economic & social benefits as well as tackling food insecurity

The LEAP conference is back in Oxford on 22nd April 2026. We have @martinwhite33.bsky.social and @suepritch.bsky.social as keynote speakers. Abstract submissions will open early next year. Save the date! @oxfutureoffood.bsky.social

LEAP conference 2026

Date for the 2026 LEAP conference

futureoffood.ox.ac.uk

Save the date! The LEAP conference will return on 22 April 2026. Come and join us at Worcester College in Oxford to discuss meat and dairy production and consumption. We are thrilled that @suepritch.bsky.social and @martinwhite33.bsky.social will be delivering keynotes. @oxmartinschool.bsky.social

Read... 📖the full story 👉 buff.ly/4pbcVHt 🔖 the full paper in Nature Food buff.ly/JZBEVLn 🍽️ More about Mandala here buff.ly/WOHbQrI

New study quantifies how food production drives species extinction risk – with enormous variation across foods and regions

mandala-consortium.org

🌍 New research from the Mandala Consortium and Cambridge Zoology shows the scale of species extinction risk driven by food production, with huge differences across foods & regions. Impacts can vary by up to 1,000x depending on what we eat & where it’s produced. buff.ly/4pbcVHt 🧵 1/7

New study quantifies how food production drives species extinction risk – with enormous variation across foods and regions

mandala-consortium.org

In an accompanying review @martinwhite33.bsky.social, who leads the Mandala Consortium, and colleagues set out 27 practical ideas to transform food systems for the better, covering farming, manufacturing, supply chains & what ends up on our plates. buff.ly/7e8hte7 (5/5)

Key action areas for transforming the UK food system: insights from the Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) Programme project portfolio | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

The UK food system is a driver of the public health crisis of non-communicable disease, is linked to the cost-of-living crisis, and contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss and soil…

doi.org

In this BMJ paper, @martinwhite33.bsky.social and colleagues present a new MRC and NIHR framework that provides an integrated guide for using a natural experimental approach to evaluating population health and health system interventions. Read the paper at buff.ly/cEXl6km

(1/6) Takeaways can negatively impact the diet and diet-related health outcomes of local residents Local authority urban planners can deny planning for new takeaways in management zones around schools But what are the long term impacts of these exclusion zones? Read - buff.ly/S04RDSP

>10 years old but still as relevant - 10 tips for progressing from PhD to PI from @martinwhite33.bsky.social fuseopenscienceblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/from...

From PhD to PI in ten 'easy' steps

Our warts-and-all account of what it's like to do public health research.

fuseopenscienceblog.blogspot.com

Karen Hofman and Susan Goldstein cal for G20 to implement health taxes to tackle the rising tide of NCDs. The numbers are staggering, the arguments compelling. theconversation.com/sugary-drink...

Sugary drinks, processed foods, alcohol and tobacco are big killers: why the G20 should add its weight to health taxes

The G20 should acknowledge that diseases like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes are part of a system in which commercial actors are causing ill health.

theconversation.com

Our new research hub on the co-benefits for health of sustainable diets has just got itself a BlueSky account! Follow @thrivingfoodfuture.bsky.social for info about the project. Cool logo, eh?

Next week we welcome @jeanmadams.bsky.social to Oxford for our Wednesday seminar. Professor Adams will be talking about mandatory calorie labelling and what it reveals about public health policy making. Join in person @oxmartinschool.bsky.social or online 👇 www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/event/an-eva...

An evaluation of mandatory calorie labelling in the out-of-home sector

Future of Food seminar: Professor Jean Adams

futureoffood.ox.ac.uk

In other news, the weather is bueno and the jacarandas in bloom...

At #ECO2025 @jeanmadams.bsky.social and @harryrutter.bsky.social answering some difficult questions with vaguely unpopular but insightful answers. #systemsthinking @easoobesity.bsky.social

Webinar: Introducing the updated framework for using natural experiments to evaluate population health interventions Fri 23 May 12:00 - 13:15 Register at events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f01e66...

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

events.teams.microsoft.com

We are hiring! We're looking for two post-doc researchers to help us deliver a randomised controlled trial of group model building to address inequalities in diet in English local authorities. Two 3y posts, ideally starting in July. Closing date 4 May. Full details: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50905/

Researchers for the Mandala Consortium studied the environmental sustainability of inpatient paediatric menus, while assessing the potential to maintain/improve the nutritional value and the appeal of the dishes, and the related costs to the NHS. Watch - buff.ly/AGZDHIe

Designing more environmentally sustainable hospital menus

The Mandala Consortium is a research project focusing on transforming urban food systems for planetary and population health. Can changes to inpatient paedia...

buff.ly

Written by the Unit’s Prof. @jeanmadams.bsky.social and published in PLOS Medicine, this perspective reflects on the importance of both life and social scientists utilising the NOVA system to investigate “the key questions of both which foods, and which aspects of food systems, cause the most harm”.

Just finished this 5m long drystone seating area on the banks of the loch. It will hold a single piece of oak across the three protruding stones to form a bench. Built by hand, no mortar, just time, attention, and stone. All materials sourced locally. #Scotland #Nature #Environment #Sustainable

A few thoughts on the UK government proposal to amend the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. TL;dr good on milk drinks, threshold change could backfire, missed opportunity to align with environmental policy on plant-based milks.

Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy consultation

gov.uk

🎙️How can we make food that is good for health, societies, the planet and the economy? Governments need to develop food strategies that are comprehensive, that cross all government departments and really take a holistic view - says @martinwhite33.bsky.social @mrcepid.bsky.social pod.fo/e/2c3eac

Important investigative piece in @bmj.com Nice video explainer... Bans on junk food advertising in outdoor spaces derailed by industry lobbying www.bmj.com/content/389/...

Bans on junk food advertising in outdoor spaces derailed by industry lobbying

Councils trying to bring in policies to protect the public from unhealthy food adverts face a “tobacco playbook” of tactics to stymie their plans, such as financial warnings and claims advertisers “ca...

bmj.com

You have to read this article. "The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. They are treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants." By @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor

The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

theguardian.com