Carl Joyce’s Post

Eating Better alliance members Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, Action on Salt | Action on Sugar | World Action on Salt, Sugar and Health, and The Food Foundation together with Obesity Health Alliance, Impact on Urban Health and British Heart Foundation, have published 'Recipe for Change'. 'Recipe for Change' is a campaign calling for a new industry levy to help make our food healthier, while raising revenue that can be invested back into children’s health. This report outlines the campaign coalition's vision, and new research on the health and economic benefits of a levy. The call to action: 1. For government to build on the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy by introducing a new levy on unhealthy food. 2. For business to change the recipe of the food and drink that they sell to make them healthier for all of us. 3. To invest revenue raised from the levy in children’s health and access to good food. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/ensbqRQT #EatingBetter #Sustainability #FoodSystems #Health #Obesity #ChildrensHealth #SustainableFoodSystems #Salt #Sugar #SugarLevy #RecipeForChange #SoftDrinksIndustryLevy

As we reach the end of the Decade of nutrition, in 2025, we need to explore how we can make progress. We want to collect voices from all over the world, particularly from communities struggling to feed their families, to participate in the conversation and to help design possible solutions. This is an opportunity to contribute your experiences and ideas, to help reduce the numbers of people who go to bed hungry and increase the number of people who can eat a nutritious diet through more effective and equitable food systems. A film will be created from the submissions to be aired during the congress and the issues raised will be analysed and collected into a poster to be presented at the final congress plenary. There are two main areas we are exploring in relation to food security: A: Tell Us Your experiences of feeding yourselves, your family and your community. Have you experienced any positive changes or challenges in the last few years? How are you coping with any challenges? Have you had any support? From whom? What one thing would make a difference for you, your family and/or your community? And/or... B: Have you been involved in feeding infants as a mother, other carer or a health worker? What are your experiences, practices and perceptions on infant and young child feeding, in the last three years? What is working and what is not? What changes do you think would promote more effective infant and young child feeding practices and perceptions? Format We encourage you to send us your views on the questions above in one of these formats: A brief video of under 3 minutes A text document of up to 250 words A photo essay or drawing A poster Other More information below👇 https://lnkd.in/eWkADdgG #wphncongress2024 #yourvoicematters

A recent report from The Greater Boston Food Bank found that in 2023, over a third of households in Massachusetts reported facing food insecurity. Access to nutritious food is essential to staying healthy, but this can be particularly challenging for those with significant needs. If left unaddressed, food insecurity and poor diet can lead to chronic illnesses like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. At CCA, our Community Health Workers (CHWs) utilize a comprehensive person-centered approach to fully address the social factors that impact someone’s care. Along with assisting with matters like housing needs and transportation, CCA’s CHWs support individuals struggling to access nutritious foods. They are embedded directly into our care teams and work with our clinicians to help members meet their nutritional needs and navigate government programs to break down silos and access the right benefits and resources. As trusted parts of the care team, CHWs are pivotal to our mission of delivering better health outcomes. By integrating food and healthcare, we can improve the health and wellbeing of residents across Massachusetts. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/ekTWZZMm #FoodIsMedicine #HealthEquity

🍏💡 Big Moves Towards a Healthier Future: $1.7B Pledged! 🍏💡 Exciting news for everyone invested in a healthier lifestyle! 🌟 The Biden administration has rallied an impressive coalition, securing over 140 commitments totaling nearly $1.7 billion to fight hunger and tackle diet-related diseases by 2030. Spearheaded by organizations from health insurers to local governments, this initiative marks a significant step forward in public health and nutrition. A standout contribution comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, introducing nutritious food deliveries and nutrition coaching as part of their standard member benefits. 🥗📚 This massive push towards enhancing health and nutrition accessibility is not just a win for current efforts but a foundation for future generations to lead healthier lives. Let’s support and follow these transformative initiatives for a healthier tomorrow! #foodandnutrition For health-conscious individuals, families, and business professionals dedicated to making a difference.

A general election has been announced for the 4th July but how can a new Government boost the nation’s health, address food poverty and reshape our food system? Our new report shows the power of Fruit & Veg on Prescription for people on low incomes living with food-related ill health. Working with GPs and social prescribers at the Bromley by Bow Centre in Tower Hamlets and community health practitioners at the AT Beacon Project in Lambeth, almost 200 people have been prescribed Rose Vouchers to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables in their local communities. The results speak for themselves: 🍏 80% of participants now eat five-a-day. 📈 9 in 10 experience improved health and wellbeing. 🫀 7 in 10 saw improvements in blood pressure. 👩⚕️ 40% reduction in GP visits. 💷 £222k invested in the local economy We need to reorientate the food system to make the healthy option the easy option. Innovations like Fruit & Veg on Prescription have an important role to play. Read the full report here ➡️

Want to learn more about the FoodSEqual-Health project?    The FoodSEqual-Health project team will be holding an introductory webinar on 12 September 2023 (12:00-13:00) on Teams.  This webinar will provide an opportunity to hear more about the project, its interventions and aspirations for reducing health inequality at a community-level. Hear from key stakeholders involved in similar interventions and an assessment of the impact of the project into the future.     FREE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE ON EVENTBRITE HERE https://lnkd.in/eVwxB7mQ     and you can join the webinar here. A link is also available via Eventbrite.     WHAT IS FOODSEQUAL-HEALTH? The FoodSEqual project seeks to transform the UK food system experienced by citizens of disadvantaged communities so that everyone can access an affordable, healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate diet. Lack of access to a healthy diet has significant negative consequences for public health. Our work with four different communities has shown that people have a strong aspiration to consume more fresh vegetables and fruits, but in many places they are not locally available and they are expensive to buy compared to less healthy and more filling alternatives. We have also discovered that connecting through food is a powerful way to bring people together in a setting that enables other challenges around health and well-being to be supported. In a new sub-project of FoodSEqual, called FoodSEqual-Health, we will run an area based, community level intervention ‘Fresh Street’, that provides vouchers that can be redeemed for fresh fruit and vegetables in a community hub setting. The intervention will support and record changes in well-being, diet, health and social connectivity, and explores the economic benefits that arise from it. This webinar is the first of three that we will run throughout the project to share our plans, progress and outcomes with a wide-ranging audience who are united by a desire to reduce the causes of health inequalities. 

There has been a significant drop in hospital admissions related to high sugar consumption since the implementation of the sugar levy in the UK. However, there's a crucial call to action. Sugar levels in various UK products remain alarmingly high. This underscores the persistent challenge in reducing sugar content across our daily consumables.    It's clear that while the sugar levy has brought about positive changes, there's more work to be done. This piece serves as a wake-up call to address the broader issue of elevated sugar in commonly consumed products throughout the UK.    As we celebrate the positive impact on hospital admissions, let's channel this momentum into sustained efforts.    Together, we can drive comprehensive changes in the food industry, promoting healthier choices and long-term public health improvements.    #SugarLevy #PublicHealth #FoodIndustry #HealthierChoices #UKHealthcare 

We’ve seen how a lack of access to nutritious food impact the health and wellbeing of our clients. We were extremely encouraged that the draft 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver from DC’s Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) includes a request to expand coverage for nutrition services. The proposal recognizes the prevalence of hunger in our community and the connection between a lack of food access and increased risks for many chronic health conditions. The inclusion of nutrition supports in the District’s draft demonstration waiver represents an exciting opportunity to scale a variety of programs across our community that increase access to healthy food. Nutrition services, like the groceries and nutrition supports provided through our food pharmacy at Children’s National Hospital, have the potential to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. We look forward to working with DHCF, community stakeholders and managed care organizations to shape the Medicaid nutrition supports covered under the waiver to deliver the greatest impact for our community. #foodismedicine #foodinsecurity #nutritioninsecurity #FoodPlusHealth #1115 #foodpharmacy

UK children shorter, fatter and sicker… Grim reading in a Food Foundation report (below), rearticulating the oft stated problem that children’s health is declining as a result of a poor diet, poverty and other markers. In the NHS, prevention and deprivation are high on the agenda, but for the youngest the report suggests actions so far have been unsuccessful. At a time of crises in healthcare services we spend a lot of time focusing on areas such as structure, waiting lists and funding, all a necessary part of day-to-day firefighting. But these efforts seem pyrrhic if the next generation is fated to enjoy worst healthcare outcomes because their diet and other life factors are deficient. What to do about it? Good advice and intentions on the subject are in abundant supply, but there seems to be no solution that is palatable to the public (or politicians). Why might it be that it is so difficult to change people’s behaviour? Perhaps it is because people exercise choice, and for many of us this often equates to the 'nicest' option, not the ‘healthiest’. It’s a classic of evolutionary biology that many of the things we now regard as vices were once of paramount importance. Happy examples include energy conservation (e.g., laziness), energy acquisition (e.g., eating more than we need to survive), and avoidance of risk (e.g., watching people do sport rather than doing it ourselves). If this is true, then advocates of a ‘healthy lifestyle’ face a tireless opponent. Persuading people to get out in the evening to run or cycle, less so to watch Goggle Box, is the real challenge. This is not to decry attempts to improve health, but to state the simple truths that stand in the way of any wholesale restructuring of diet and activity away from what has become the contented norm. The official advice on the subject is also contradictory – regular exercise is a DHSC recommendation when it comes to weight reduction, but the cross-departmental national food strategy concluded that exercise can be thwarted by our natural tendency to conserve energy (apparently, active women in rural Nigeria have similar calorie expenditure to women in Chicago). ‘National food strategy for England’ published in July 2020 ('You can’t outrun a bad diet’). The problem is very well articulated by the Food Foundation report. However, in the absence of a significant lifestyle or dietary change, we are still in a situation where we are treating the symptoms of the problem, rather than preventing it. We like to talk about radical change, but as we learn from the strategies and attempts to change behaviour so far, it is very difficult to achieve this in practice without compulsion (and how far are people willing to be compelled?). https://lnkd.in/eDEpmkRQ

A new report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change sets out the case for urgent action at UK government level on poor diet and diet-related sickness - for the sake of the nation's health and our economic growth and prosperity. Pre-packaged, convenient and ultra-processed food now makes up 57 per cent of the average UK diet and the dominance of this food is making people sick. Obesity rates in the UK are at record levels: almost three-quarters of people aged between 45 and 74 in England are living with overweight or obesity, as are nearly one-third of children aged 2 to 15. The UK has the third-highest rate of adult obesity in Europe and obesity-related deaths have surpassed those caused by smoking, with the cost of dealing with obesity and being overweight having spiralled to £98 billion – equivalent to almost 4% of GDP. https://lnkd.in/e5xr67xp