Latest news with #SimonePettigrew
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
There's One Simple Method to Reduce Alcohol Intake, Scientists Say, And It Works
Researchers have discovered an effective method of getting people to drink less alcohol: Highlight the increased risk of cancer that comes with imbibing and pair that with counting each and every drink. This particular combo of 'why to reduce' and 'how to reduce' messaging can be useful for promoting good health in a population, the researchers found in a 2021 study. Too much drinking doesn't just lead to cancer, of course. Overdoing it on the booze is associated with a whole range of problems, including premature death, heart disease, digestive issues, and an increased risk of dementia. "We found that pairing information about alcohol and cancer with a particular practical action – counting their drinks – resulted in drinkers reducing the amount of alcohol they consumed," said economist and psychologist Simone Pettigrew from The George Institute for Global Health when the findings were announced. Related: For the study, three surveys were filled out: 7,995 people completed the first, 4,588 of those people completed the second three weeks later, and 2,687 people finished the final survey three weeks after that. The participants were split up into different groups and shown different advertisements and messages about drinking. One combination stood out, compared to a control group: A TV ad linking booze and cancer, together with a suggestion to keep count of your drinks, was one of the most effective at getting people to try and cut down on alcohol intake. It was also the only combination where people actually did significantly reduce their alcohol consumption over the six weeks. Other approaches – like encouraging people to decide on a number of drinks and then stick to it – did prompt some of the volunteers to try and cut down, but there was a clear winner based on the people taking part in this research. "Many people don't know that alcohol is a carcinogen," said Pettigrew. "It's important information that drinkers should have access to. But telling people alcohol causes cancer is just part of the solution – we also need to give them ways to take action to reduce their risk." Alcohol consumption can be attributed to as many as 7 percent of premature deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and making drinkers more aware of the health risks is one way of tackling that problem. While health agencies have also looked at ways of making booze less readily available and more expensive, ultimately, personal choices will determine whether or not behavior around alcohol will shift in the long term. In this particular study, the participants were chosen to be "broadly demographically representative of the Australian drinking public", so it's not an approach that will necessarily work elsewhere – but it seems that counting your drinks could be one option to try if you want to cut down. "There are limited resources available for alcohol harm-reduction campaigns, so it's important to find out which messages resonate best to ensure they have the best chance of working," said Pettigrew. The research was published in Addictive Behaviors. An earlier version of this article was first published in June 2021. Related News Untested Peptide Injections Are Being Sold as 'Next-Gen Biohacks' People With a Home by The Ocean Live Longer And We Don't Know Why The Mere Sight of a Sick Person Can Trigger Our Immune System Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
How to reduce your food footprint: if it's better for you, it's better for the planet
Food production globally accounts for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, with the average Australian diet contributing more than 3kg of Co2 per person per day. And what's worse, we waste about 35% of the food we bring home. If we keep this up, it has been estimated the already unsustainable environmental cost of the food system will nearly double by 2050. Calculating the precise impact your individual food choices have on the environment isn't simple, but research suggests the actions we can take to bring that impact down are – and they aren't just better for the environment, they're better for our health too. A 2021 CSIRO study found that sticking to its healthy eating guidelines while choosing lower-carbon options could reduce the climate impact of our diets by as much as 42%. Another released last year, which conducted life-cycle assessments on more than 60 thousand products available on Australian shelves, found that switching to lower-emission options within similar categories could bring our food footprints down by an impressive 71%. Prof Simone Pettigrew, program director of food policy at the George Institute for Global Health and an author of the latter study, says: 'There's four biggies that sit at the top of the list for being the least sustainable: traditional red meats, dairy products, and then to a lesser extent – but perhaps more upsettingly – coffee and chocolate.' Consumers, she says, can make a 'massive, massive difference' to the sustainability of their entire food basket simply by limiting or switching out those items. In practical terms this might look like choosing poultry, seafood or kangaroo instead of lamb or pork, switching dairy milk for plant-based options, drinking just one less coffee a day or choosing sweet treats with low or no cocoa content. Even if we can do that some of the time, the difference can be significant, according to Pettigrew. When it comes to carbohydrates and fresh produce, Pettigrew says a solid rule of thumb is the better it is for you, the better it probably is for the planet. Choosing fresh fruits and vegetables to snack on rather than processed biscuits or bars, for example, will dramatically reduce your diet's carbon footprint. And while there are production and processing differences between more nutritionally similar items such as pasta and rice, Pettigrew says overall they are largely comparable in terms of sustainability. 'Anything that is plant based is going to be much less environmentally costly than anything animal based. 'We understand it's hard for consumers to make really big changes in one hit, but it is relatively easy to make small incremental ones.' If you already eat a healthy, plant-rich diet, limit your ultra-processed food intake and are keeping your coffee and chocolate habits in check, you've made a great start. Beyond that, Dr Lilly Lim-Camacho, principal research scientist with CSIRO Agriculture and Food, says one of the most helpful things consumers can do to maximise these gains is to 'shop with intent'. Food waste accounts for more than a third of all household waste, so only purchasing what you need combined with small efforts such as 'learning how to use up leftover veggies in the crisper' and resisting impulse buying will not only make your diet significantly more sustainable, but healthier and more economical too. She urges people to also keep in mind that wasting unhealthy food is doubly bad. 'Not only do discretionary foods create more emissions, our bodies don't actually need them.' Those emissions are essentially being wasted regardless of whether you consume the food or not, she suggests. If you'd like to take things a step further, apps such as ecoSwitch, developed by the George Institute, get into the nitty gritty of comparing the carbon ratings associated with more specific items. This can help if you want to know, for example, which brand of tinned tomatoes or tofu is best. The George Institute study found that opting for near identical but lower-impact options alone could bring your food footprint down by 26%. Neither Pettigrew nor Lim-Camacho want to take the fun out of food or expect consumers to forgo the odd burger or chocolate ice-cream, but agree that by prioritising our health we will naturally make better choices for the planet, and vice versa. 'It's a win-win,' says Pettigrew. 'There is always going to be an environmental cost to our food. But it's important for people to know that you actually can make an enormous difference if you want to.'
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Swapping out red meat and creamy pasta sauce could significantly cut household emissions, Australian research finds
Simple grocery swaps – including substituting red meat for chicken or plant-based alternatives, opting for dairy-free milk and yoghurt and choosing fruit toast instead of muffins – could substantially cut household greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found. A report by the George Institute for Global Health found switches could reduce a household's climate pollution by 6 tonnes a year, which it said was roughly equivalent to the emissions from an average household's grid-based electricity use. Researchers estimated the emissions for more than 25,000 everyday grocery items available at supermarkets including Aldi, Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farm and IGA. They found replacing 1kg of beef mince with chicken each week could cut more than 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while switching to a meat alternative would save 2.5 tonnes. Switching one creamy pasta sauce to a tomato-based option each week could remove 270kg CO2 over a year. Prof Simone Pettigrew, the George Institute's head of health promotion and a professor at UNSW Sydney, said food was a necessity that contributed to about 30% of global emissions. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter 'Australians are deeply concerned about the climate, and many people want to do the right thing. But it's hard to know which products are more sustainable when that information is not available on pack.' While researchers had known for some time that meat was worse in terms of emissions, and that vegetables were better, Pettigrew said there was a 'mountain of products that sit in the middle, and they tend to be the types of packaged foods that sit on our supermarket shelves'. To make it easier for consumers, the institute has translated its findings into a 'planetary health rating' ranging from 0 (worse for the planet) to 5 stars (better). Individual product ratings are available via a free ecoSwitch app, which also suggests alternatives with lower emissions. If consumers found some swaps too challenging – such as cutting coffee or chocolate – there were plenty of options across other categories like snack bars, pasta sauce or salad dressing, Pettigrew said. 'There are quite substantial amounts of difference that people can make through relatively minor switches as part of their grocery shopping.' In Australia, there was currently no requirement for companies to include greenhouse gas emissions information on food labelling, something the George Institute would like to see change. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'In the future, we hope that the data and ratings we use in ecoSwitch could inform a national front-of-pack labelling system to provide more information for all consumers, and to incentivise industry and supermarkets to meet the demand for more sustainable foods.' Research by the Consumer Policy Research Centre previously found nearly half (45%) of Australians considered sustainability 'always' or 'often' when deciding what to buy. But the centre's chief executive, Erin Turner, said 'greenwashing', in the form of unsubstantiated, vague or misleading environmental claims, made it more challenging for people to make better choices. 'We think about the solution to greenwashing in two ways; you've got to get rid of the bad information, and get good quality information in front of people,' she said. Independent, science-backed information – such as the George Institute's data – was helpful, along with clearer definitions for commonly used terms like compostable, biodegradable and recyclable, she said. 'Consumer action does matter, and the choices you make can reduce your individual emissions. But also, we want to think about ways that our systems can encourage companies to do more and do better.'
