Identifying areas for action to create healthier diets in the London Borough of Newham: systems mapping with residents.

Background: Healthy diet is an essential component of good health, yet many areas of the UK struggle with high burdens of diet-related diseases. Efforts to address diet-related diseases in the London Borough of Newham have had limited success so far, possibly due to the lack of engagement with Newham's distinct local context. Newham is ethnically diverse and within the 20% most deprived areas of England.

Promoting environmentally sustainable food purchases in online grocery shopping: insights from a pilot randomised controlled field trial.

Objective: It remains unclear which interventions are effective in promoting more environmentally sustainable food choices within online grocery shopping environments. We set out to (1) use a plug-in (browser extension) to implement a pilot randomised controlled trial of eco-labels providing information on the environmental impact of specific food products, and (2) collect data to inform a larger trial investigating the effectiveness of eco-labels and other interventions promoting environmentally sustainable online food purchases. The plug-in was custom-built and active on a large UK supermarket website, accessed using the Google Chrome browser on a desktop or laptop.

The impact of the UK soft drink industry levy on the soft drink marketplace, 2017-2020: An interrupted time series analysis with comparator series.

Background: In April 2018, the UK government implemented a levy on soft drinks importers and manufacturers, tiered according to the amount of sugar in drinks. The stated aim was to encourage manufacturers to reduce sugar and portion sizes. Previous evidence suggests that the policy has been successful in reducing sugar in drinks in the short-term since implementation, but their sustained effects have not been explored.

Impact of the UK soft drinks industry levy on health and health inequalities in children and adolescents in England: An interrupted time series analysis and population health modelling study.

Background: The soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) in the United Kingdom has led to a significant reduction in household purchasing of sugar in drinks. In this study, we examined the potential medium- and long-term implications for health and health inequalities among children and adolescents in England.

Methods And Findings: We conducted a controlled interrupted time series analysis to measure the effects of the SDIL on the amount of sugar per household per week from soft drinks purchased, 19 months post implementation and by index of multiple deprivation (IMD) quintile in England.

Changes in soft drinks purchased by British households associated with the UK soft drinks industry levy: a controlled interrupted time series analysis.

Objective: To determine changes in household purchases of drinks 1 year after implementation of the UK soft drinks industry levy (SDIL).

Design: Controlled interrupted time series.

Participants: Households reporting their purchasing to a market research company (average weekly n=22 091), March 2014 to March 2019.

NHS reference costs: a history and cautionary note.

Historically, the NHS did not routinely collect cost data, unlike many countries with private insurance markets. In 1998, for the first time the government mandated NHS trusts to submit estimates of their costs of service, known as reference costs. These have informed a wide range of health economic evaluations and important functions in the health service, such as setting prices.

Projected health and economic impacts of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation in Germany: A cross-validation modelling study.

Background: Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have been implemented globally to reduce the burden of cardiometabolic diseases by disincentivizing consumption through increased prices (e.g., 1 peso/litre tax in Mexico) or incentivizing industry reformulation to reduce SSB sugar content (e.

Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts.

Modelled dietary scenarios often fail to reflect true dietary practice and do not account for variation in the environmental burden of food due to sourcing and production methods. Here we link dietary data from a sample of 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters with food-level data on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, eutrophication risk and potential biodiversity loss from a review of 570 life-cycle assessments covering more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries. Our results include the variation in food production and sourcing that is observed in the review of life-cycle assessments.

Guidance on the use of complex systems models for economic evaluations of public health interventions.

To help health economic modelers respond to demands for greater use of complex systems models in public health. To propose identifiable features of such models and support researchers to plan public health modeling projects using these models. A working group of experts in complex systems modeling and economic evaluation was brought together to develop and jointly write guidance for the use of complex systems models for health economic analysis.

Long-Term Effect of Weight Regain Following Behavioral Weight Management Programs on Cardiometabolic Disease Incidence and Risk: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Behavioral weight management programs (BWMPs) enhance weight loss in the short term, but longer term cardiometabolic effects are uncertain as weight is commonly regained. We assessed the impact of weight regain after BWMPs on cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Methods: Trial registries, 11 databases, and forward-citation searching (latest search, December 19) were used to identify articles published in English, from any geographical region.

Correction: Anticipatory changes in British household purchases of soft drinks associated with the announcement of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy: A controlled interrupted time series analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.

Weight regain after behavioural weight management programmes and its impact on quality of life and cost effectiveness: Evidence synthesis and health economic analyses.

Aims: We used data from a recent systematic review to investigate weight regain after behavioural weight management programmes (BWMPs, sometimes referred to as lifestyle modification programmes) and its impact on quality-of-life and cost-effectiveness.

Materials And Methods: Trial registries, databases and forward-citation searching (latest search December 2019) were used to identify randomized trials of BWMPs in adults with overweight/obesity reporting outcomes at ≥12 months, and after programme end. Two independent reviewers screened records.

Changes in the salt content of packaged foods sold in supermarkets between 2015-2020 in the United Kingdom: A repeated cross-sectional study.

Background: Excess consumption of salt is linked to an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The United Kingdom has had a comprehensive salt reduction programme since 2003, setting a series of progressively lower, product-specific reformulation targets for the food industry, combined with advice to consumers to reduce salt. The aim of this study was to assess the changes in the sales-weighted mean salt content of grocery foods sold through retail between 2015 and 2020 by category and company.

A profile of children's physical activity data from the 2012 and 2015 health survey for England.

Background: Low childhood physical activity levels constitute an important modifiable risk for adult non-communicable disease incidence and subsequent socio-economic burden, but few publications have explored age and sex related patterns within the UK population. The aims were to profile child physical activity data from the Health Survey for England from 2012 (1,732 respondents) and 2015 (5,346 respondents).

Methods: Reported physical activity episodes were converted to metabolic equivalents with reference to child-specific compendiums.

Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products.

Understanding and communicating the environmental impacts of food products is key to enabling transitions to environmentally sustainable food systems [El Bilali and Allahyari, Inf. Process. Agric.

Forecast of myocardial infarction incidence, events and prevalence in England to 2035 using a microsimulation model with endogenous disease outcomes.

Background: Models that forecast non-communicable disease rates are poorly designed to predict future changes in trend because they are based on exogenous measures of disease rates. We introduce microPRIME, which forecasts myocardial infarction (MI) incidence, events and prevalence in England to 2035. microPRIME can forecast changes in trend as all MI rates emerge from competing trends in risk factors and treatment.

Estimating BMI distributions by age and sex for local authorities in England: a small area estimation study.

Objectives: Rates of overweight and obesity vary across England, but local rates have not been estimated for over 10 years. We aimed to produce new small area estimates of body mass index (BMI) by age and sex for each lower tier and unitary local authority in England, to provide up-to-date and more detailed estimates for the use of policy-makers and academics working in non-communicable disease risk and health inequalities.

Design: We used generalised linear modelling to estimate the relationship between BMI with social/demographic markers in a cross-sectional survey, then used this model to impute a BMI for each adult in locally-representative populations.

Exploring the potential impact of the proposed UK TV and online food advertising regulations: a concept mapping study.

Objectives: In July 2020 the UK Government announced an intention to restrict advertisements for products high in fat, salt or sugar on live broadcast, catch-up and on-demand television before 21:00 hours; and paid for online advertising. As no other jurisdiction has implemented similar regulations, there is no empirical evidence about how they might perturb the food system. To guide the regulations' implementation and evaluation, we aimed to develop a concept map to hypothesise their potential consequences for the commercial food system, health and society.

Assessing the social validity of a brief dietary survey for Sri Lankan adults with a focus on gender: a qualitative study.

Background: As the World Health Organization urges countries to strengthen their noncommunicable disease monitoring and surveillance activities, setting-specific innovations are emerging. Diet - a key, modifiable risk factor for chronic diseases - is particularly challenging to capture reliably. By socially validating self-report dietary survey tools, we may be able to increase the accuracy and representativeness of data for improved population health outcomes.

The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study.

Background: Adoption of healthy and sustainable diets could be essential for safe-guarding the Earth's natural resources and reducing diet-related mortality, but their adoption could be hampered if such diets proved to be more expensive and unaffordable for some populations. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the costs of healthy and sustainable diets around the world.

Methods: In this modelling study, we used regionally comparable food prices from the International Comparison Program for 150 countries.

In search of an appropriate mix of taxes and subsidies on nutrients and food: A modelling study of the effectiveness on health-related consumption and mortality.

Taxes and subsidies on foods and nutrients have the potential to promote healthier diets and thereby reduce mortality. In this study, we examine the effects of such policy instruments on Swedish public health. Specifically, we estimate the effects of food and nutrient taxes and subsidies on mortality averted and postponed in Sweden, using both demand system estimations and simulation models.

Are the Eatwell Guide and Nutrient Profiling Models Consistent in the UK?

A nutrient profiling model (NPM) was developed in 2005 in the UK to regulate the marketing of foods to children. It was revised in 2018, but the new version has not been finalised. The Eatwell Guide (EWG) is the UK's official food-based dietary guidelines.

Association between characteristics of behavioural weight loss programmes and weight change after programme end: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To determine if the characteristics of behavioural weight loss programmes influence the rate of change in weight after the end of the programme.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: Trial registries, 11 electronic databases, and forward citation searching (from database inception; latest search December 2019).