In this article for The Conversation, CEDAR PhD student Dolly Theis discusses new insights into why successive government’s obesity policies in England over the past three decades have largely failed.In England, 63% of men and women live with obesity or are overweight. Although the government has recognised obesity to be a significant health challenge that […]
Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: building a dry stone wall
CEDAR researchers and collaborators have recently published a paper in BMJ Global Health. Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: building a dry stone wall But why a dry stone wall? On one hand it sometimes feels you can’t move for all the new research coming out. It’s hard to see the wood […]
Cycling and walking to work lowers risk of cancer, heart disease and death – The Conversation
In this article for The Conversation, Dr Richard Patterson from the MRC Epidemiology Unit and Dr Anthony Laverty from Imperial College London discuss research highlighting the health benefits of active commuting.As many countries ease their lockdowns and more people return to work, there’s an effort to limit the use of public transport to avoid further spread of COVID-19. It seems […]
Food insecurity in the UK – why we need a new normal
Amy Yau, Jean Adams & Martin WhiteHeadlines on ‘Food Bank Britain’ have featured increasingly in our newspapers since the global financial crash in 2008, documenting the struggle of many people who rely on emergency food aid to feed themselves and their families.The use of food banks is a last resort for people facing food insecurity […]
The Healthy Food Act – Bennett Prospect Prize 2019/20
Dr Oliver Mytton was selected as a finalist for the 2019/2020 The Bennett Prospect Prize for Public Policy for this essay on how a Healthy Food Act could improve the health of the UK. The Bennett Prospect Prize for Public Policy is awarded by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and […]
Road Safety: switch to cycling to keep others safe
Rachel Aldred and James Woodcock write about new research examining the risk posed to other road users by particular types of transport. This post was originally published in The Conversation.Analysis from the UK Department for Transport compares the risk of being injured when you are cycling, driving or walking. Motorcyclists have an especially high risk […]
Some countries have introduced mandatory nutritional labelling on menus – here’s why the UK should follow suit
CEDAR Ph.D. student Dolly Theis writes about how labelling menus may help us to eat more healthily. This post was originally published in The Conversation.Would you eat a burger if you knew it contained almost 6,000 calories? Some would gladly tuck in while others would recoil in horror. But if you have calories on the […]
Designing for health – creating physically active communities
CEDAR PhD student Anna Le Gouais outlines the findings of research on the opportunities and challenges in creating neighbourhoods that encourage physical activity and promote health. This piece was originally published in the October 2019 issue of The Journal of the Town and Country Planning Association. www.tcpa.org.ukOur environments can influence how much everyday physical activity […]
Twenty times more English children could cycle to school with better transport planning
Rachel Aldred (University of Westminster), Anna Goodman (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), James Woodcock (CEDAR / MRC Epidemiology Unit) and Robin Lovelace (University of Leeds) from the Propensity to Cycle – www.pct.bike – team write about we can get more children cycling to school. This post was originally published in The Conversation.Only 2% […]
Physical activity programmes in schools aren’t working – here’s why
Rebecca Love, PhD student at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, writes in The Conversation about the lack of success in efforts to help children be more active at school.A third of children in the UK are overweight or obese by the time they reach primary school. Many other countries are facing the same issue, with a […]