Real Food Initiatives for Public Health in the UK

Sam Feltham is the Director of the Public Health Collaboration in the UK, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of public health education. The PHC coordinates campaigns and produces evidence-based reports for improving pressing health issues, such as obesity and diabetes, which are on the rise in the UK and worldwide. I met up with Sam at the Real Food Rocks Festival in July, a family event coordinated by the PHC to bring people together with music, fun, and of course, real food.

In this podcast, Sam and I discuss the current initiatives being pursued by the Public Health Collaboration, including training and deploying a nationwide team of volunteer ambassadors to inform and implement healthier decisions at a local level. We discuss some of the obstacles encountered in educating the public, and Sam shares some of his long-term goals for a healthier future.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Sam Feltham:

[00:00:09] Real Food Rocks Festival.

[00:02:25] The Public Health Collaboration (PHC).

[00:03:24] PHC Advisory Board members: Dr. David Unwin and Dr. Jen Unwin, Dr. Trudi Deakin.

[00:07:24] PHC Ambassadors Programme; currently 150 ambassadors across the country.

[00:08:58] Andy Bishop; reversed type-2 diabetes and now runs patient groups

[00:10:11] Current obstacles: perceived cost and the existing government guidelines.

[00:11:28] Sugar infographics, endorsed by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). 

[00:12:48] The value of educating in small groups instead of individual sessions.

[00:16:35] Ivor Cummins; Podcasts: How Not to Die of Cardiovascular Disease and Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC): A Direct Measure of Cardiovascular Disease Risk.

[00:18:08] People under significant financial stress are 13 times more likely to have a heart attack. Study: Rosengren, Annika, et al. "Association of psychosocial risk factors with risk of acute myocardial infarction in 11 119 cases and 13 648 controls from 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study." The Lancet 364.9438 (2004): 953-962.

[00:20:17] Denmark’s saturated fat tax.  It didn’t last long.

[00:20:37] Influencing food policy; Real Food Lifestyle dietary guidelines.

[00:21:49] Tom Watson, deputy of the Labour Party. 

[00:23:55] Type 2 diabetes is currently 10% of the NHS budget.

[00:26:29] War on Plastic show on BBC One.

[00:27:32] The grocery store sugar-laden rat run.

[00:30:50] Patric Holden, founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust.

[00:32:00] Distributed food network.

[00:34:01] Getting people into the system before they have health problems.

[00:35:14] Changing the standards for hypertension in 2017.

[00:37:19] Dr. Michael Mosley; Documentary: Michael Mosley vs. The Superbugs.

[00:41:26] How to become an ambassador; phcuk.org/ambassadors.