Harnessing adolescent values to motivate healthier eating

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A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences asks what can be done to reduce unhealthy eating among adolescents. Researchers hypothesized that aligning healthy eating with important and widely shared adolescent values would produce the needed motivation. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled experiment with eighth graders evaluated the impact of a treatment that framed healthy eating as consistent with the adolescent values of autonomy from adult control and the pursuit of social justice. Healthy eating was suggested as a way to take a stand against manipulative and unfair practices of the food industry, such as engineering junk food to make it addictive and marketing it to young children.

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Countermarketing Unhealthy Food: Lessons from Tobacco

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Thirty years of research in tobacco control has shown that countermarketing has been effective in reducing tobacco use, especially among teenagers and young adults. This policy brief by investigators at the City University of New York Urban Food Policy Institute  describes some of the key elements of effective tobacco countermarketing campaigns, and examines the relevance of these evidence-based countermarketing practices to unhealthy food and beverages, defined as processed products high in unhealthy fats, sugar, salt and empty calories

Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review

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Media representations play a crucial role in informing public and policy opinions about the causes of, and solutions to, ill-health. A new paper, published in BMC Public Health, reviews studies analyzing media coverage of non-communicable disease (NCD) debates, focusing on how the industries marketing commodities that increase NCD risk are represented. A scoping review identified 61 studies providing information on media representations of NCD risks, NCD policies and tobacco, alcohol, processed food and soft drinks industries. Continue reading Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review

E-cigarette Policymaking by Local and State Governments: 2009-2014

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A new report in The Milbank Quarterly  concludes that passing e-cigarette regulations at the state level has become more difficult since cigarette companies have entered the market. While state legislation is possible, as with earlier tobacco control policymaking, local governments remain a viable option for overcoming cigarette company interference in the policymaking process.  Citation:  Cox E, Barry RA, Glantz S.  E-cigarette Policymaking by Local and State Governments: 2009-2014. The Milbank Quarterly 2016; 94(3): 520–596.

Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents

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A study in JAMA Internal Medicine  reports that the sugar industry sponsored a research program in the 1960s and 1970s that successfully cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose while promoting fat as the dietary culprit in CHD. Policymaking committees should consider giving less weight to food industry–funded studies and include mechanistic and animal studies as well as studies appraising the effect of added sugars on multiple CHD biomarkers and disease development. Citation: Kearns CE,  Schmidt LA,Glantz SA. Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents JAMA Intern Med.  2016; Published online September 12, 2016.

Automobile, construction and entertainment business sector influences on sedentary lifestyles

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Sedentary lifestyles contribute to premature death and health inequalities. Researchers have studied personal and community-level determinants of inactivity but few have analyzed corporate influences. To reframe the public health debate on inactivity and open new doors for public sector intervention, we conducted a scoping review of evidence from several disciplines to describe how the business and political practices of the automobile, construction, and entertainment sectors have encouraged sedentary lifestyles.

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Alcohol industry launches body to fight back against misconceptions about booze

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Campaign US, a publication of the advertising agencies, reports that the drinks industry in the United Kingdom has launched a new lobbying body in a bid to re-balance the public conversation around alcohol consumption away from binge drinking myths and health scare stories. The Alcohol Information Partnership describes its mission as “ensuring that the debate in UK society around alcohol and alcohol misuse remains balanced”. This involves raising awareness of information that is arguably not reflected by the media coverage and popular understanding of alcohol.  The campaign is funded by eight major companies that predominantly make spirits: Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Campari, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Remy-Cointreau, Moet Hennessy and Beam Suntory.

Secrets of a Global Super Court

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A parallel legal universe, open only to corporations and largely invisible to everyone else, helps executives convicted of crimes escape punishment. In a four part series, BuzzFeed investigates investor-state dispute settlements, or ISDS, a process for settling disputes between corporations and governments.  The rules for settling investor-state disputes are written into a network of treaties that govern international trade and investment, including NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Congress must soon decide whether to ratify.

With Moderate Drinking Under Fire, Alcohol Companies Go on Offensive

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At a brewers’ conference this spring, an alcohol lobbyist fired a warning shot in what has become a multimillion-dollar global battle, reports The Wall Street Journal. Public-health officials “want to tell you that alcohol causes cancer,” Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, told the crowd. The industry, she said, was in danger of losing its “health halo.” Continue reading With Moderate Drinking Under Fire, Alcohol Companies Go on Offensive

Disgusted With Sky-High Drug Prices, California Voters Take on Big Pharma

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Enormous public frustration with the skyrocketing prices of essential medicines in the US has not yet led to any meaningful reform, writes Fran Quigley in Truthout. But a historic initiative on the November ballot in California, championed by health care and consumer advocates and fiercely opposed by multinational drug corporations, may finally rein in Big Pharma. Continue reading Disgusted With Sky-High Drug Prices, California Voters Take on Big Pharma