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A friend, correspondent and intellectual successor to David Ricardo, John Ramsay McCulloch (1789-1864) forged his reputation in the emerging field of political economy by publishing deeply researched articles in Scottish periodicals and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This substantial reference work, first published in 1832 and later revised, expanded and updated multiple times, incorporates critical and analytical treatment of data relating to diverse commercial activities.

Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for death and disability, but its overall association with health remains complex given the possible protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption on some conditions. With our comprehensive approach to health accounting within the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016, we generated improved estimates of alcohol use and alcohol-attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 195 locations from 1990 to 2016, for both sexes and for 5-year age groups between the ages of 15 years and 95 years and older. Using 694 data sources of individual and population-level alcohol consumption, along with 592 prospective and retrospective studies on the risk of alcohol use, we produced estimates of the prevalence of current drinking, abstention, the distribution of alcohol consumption among current drinkers in standard drinks daily (defined as 10 g of pure ethyl alcohol), and alcohol-attributable deaths and DALYs. We made several methodological improvements compared with previous estimates: first, we adjusted alcohol sales estimates to take into account tourist and unrecorded consumption; second, we did a new meta-analysis of relative risks for 23 health outcomes associated with alcohol use; and third, we developed a new method to quantify the level of alcohol consumption that minimises the overall risk to individual health. Globally, alcohol use was the seventh leading risk factor for both deaths and DALYs in 2016, accounting for 2·2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·5–3·0) of age-standardised female deaths and 6·8% (5·8–8·0) of age-standardised male deaths. Among the population aged 15–49 years, alcohol use was the leading risk factor globally in 2016, with 3·8% (95% UI 3·2–4·3) of female deaths and 12·2% (10·8–13·6) of male deaths attributable to alcohol use. For the population aged 15–49 years, female attributable DALYs were 2·3% (95% UI 2·0–2·6) and male attributable DALYs were 8·9% (7·8–9·9). The three leading causes of attributable deaths in this age group were tuberculosis (1·4% [95% UI 1·0–1·7] of total deaths), road injuries (1·2% [0·7–1·9]), and self-harm (1·1% [0·6–1·5]). For populations aged 50 years and older, cancers accounted for a large proportion of total alcohol-attributable deaths in 2016, constituting 27·1% (95% UI 21·2–33·3) of total alcohol-attributable female deaths and 18·9% (15·3–22·6) of male deaths. The level of alcohol consumption that minimised harm across health outcomes was zero (95% UI 0·0–0·8) standard drinks per week. Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease burden and causes substantial health loss. We found that the risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero. These results suggest that alcohol control policies might need to be revised worldwide, refocusing on efforts to lower overall population-level consumption. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rural households in East Africa rely on local markets, but the influence of market food diversity and household food purchase diversity on diets has not been well‐characterized. We quantify the associations among market food diversity, household food purchase diversity and dietary diversity of mothers, fathers and children in rural Tanzania. This study uses baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nutrition and Development in Tanzania. We used the 10 food groups for women's dietary diversity to assess the seasonal availability of nutritious foods in 79 markets. Using data from 957 rural households in two districts in Mara, Tanzania, we measured household food purchase diversity over the previous month and dietary diversity among children (6–23 months), mothers and fathers. Overall, 63% of markets sold all 10 food groups throughout the year, indicating high‐market food diversity and minimal seasonality. However, only 33% of women and 35% of children met dietary diversity recommendations. Households that reported higher purchasing power (0.14, p < 0.001), lived within 30 min of a market (0.36, p = 0.001) and had access to a highly diverse market (0.37, p = 0.01) purchased a higher diversity of foods. In turn, food purchase diversity was positively associated with the dietary diversity of mothers (p < 0.001) and children 9–23 months (p < 0.001) but not fathers (p = 0.56). Interventions must account for food availability and access in local markets, and promoting diverse food purchases may be an effective strategy to improve women's and children's diets in rural areas. We quantified the association between market food diversity, household food purchase diversity and the diets of mothers, fathers and children in rural Tanzania. Market food diversity was associated with higher food purchase diversity, which in turn was associated with improved dietary diversity for mothers and children but not fathers. Key messages Local markets in rural Mara, Tanzania, had unexpectedly high food diversity with minimal seasonality. Physical and economic access to diverse food markets was associated with households' food purchase, which was in turn associated with women's and children's consumption of diverse diets. Fathers' diets were more diverse and not associated with the diversity of food purchases for consumption at home. The metric developed here—household food purchase diversity—captures food diversity that could contribute to nutrient intake of children and adults. Intervention design must account for the broader food environment in rural settings.

Insect consumption (entomophagy) is a potentially high nutritious and healthy source of food with high fat, protein, vitamin, fiber and micronutrient content. At least 2 billion people globally eat insects (over 1900 edible species) though this habit is regarded negatively by others. There is a limited amount of data on the perception and consumption of insects. We conducted a national cross-sectional survey in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos) to assess the prevalence and characteristics of insect consumption among adult lay people and insect vendors. We conducted a multi stage randomized national survey in 1303 households in 96 villages in 16 Lao provinces. Three insect vendors or collectors per village were also included. A standardized pretested questionnaire addressed the following issues: socioeconomic characteristics, type of insects consumed and frequency of consumption, reasons and trends in consumption as well as reports on side effects, over the last 10 years. A total of 1059 adults (Sex ratio F/M: 1.2, 30 ethnic groups), and 256 vendors were enrolled. A total of 1025 (96.8%) lay people were currently insect consumers, 135 (13.0%) daily or weekly consumers, and 322 (31.1%) consumed several times per month. For the majority (575, 55.6%) the consumption was infrequent (less than a few times per year) and only 22 (2%) had never eaten insects. Consumption started in childhood. Insect availability was seasonal (670, 63.2%) and respondents would have eaten more insects, if they had been more available (919, 86.7%). Hmong and Leu ethnic groups had significantly lower consumption levels than the general population. Eggs of weaver ants, short-tailed crickets, crickets, grasshoppers, and cicadas were the top 5 insects consumed. Consumption had decreased in the last decade, mostly due to less availability (869; 84.0%) and change of life (29; 5.5%). Of 1059, 80 (7.5%) reported allergy problems and 106 (10.0%) reported some use in traditional medicine. A total of 874 (82.6%) were regular collectors. Insect vendors (Sex ratio F/M: 5.3) were also collectors (185; 72.2%). They dedicated a mean time of 4.7 hours during the last harvesting period. The majority sold insects at markets (141, 55.0%). They had earned, on average, USD 6.0 the day before. Five insects (weaver ant eggs; bamboo worms; short-tailed crickets; crickets; wasps) represented 85% of the market. Entomophagy is general in Laos, and well accepted despite a decreasing trend in consumption over the last decade. Its contribution to the Lao diet is limited to a minority of frequent consumers. Income through insect sales benefits mostly women. Consumption varies according to ethnicity, residence and season. Development of insect farming is still at an early stage. It could however increase availability of insects and contribute to the generation of income.

ObjectiveTo test how a potential US ban of menthol products or replacement with ‘green’ products and ads could influence tobacco purchases.MethodsUS adult menthol smokers (N=1197) were recruited via an online panel and randomly assigned to complete a shopping task in one of four versions (experimental conditions) of the RTI iShoppe virtual store: (1) no ban, (2) replacement of menthol cigarettes and ads with green replacement versions, (3) menthol cigarette ban and (4) all menthol tobacco product ban. Logistic regressions assessed the effect of condition on tobacco purchases.ResultsParticipants in the menthol cigarette ban (OR=0.67, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.92) and all menthol product ban conditions (OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.83) were less likely to purchase cigarettes of any type than participants in the no ban condition. Participants in the green replacement (OR=1.74, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.70), menthol cigarette ban (OR=3.40, 95% CI 2.14 to 5.41) and all menthol product ban conditions (OR=3.14, 95% CI 1.97 to 5.01) were more likely to purchase a cigarette brand different from their usual brand than participants in the no ban condition.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that menthol bans could have great public health impact by reducing cigarette purchases. However, tobacco marketing strategies, such as creating green (or other replacement) versions of menthol cigarettes, may undermine public health benefits of a menthol ban by prompting purchases of non-menthol cigarettes. Our findings highlight the importance of taking tobacco marketing tactics into consideration in tobacco product regulation.

Supermarket environments can strongly influence purchasing decisions. Price promotions are recognised as a particularly persuasive tactic, but the healthiness of price promotions in prominent in-store locations is understudied. This study compared the prevalence and magnitude of price promotions on healthy and unhealthy food and beverages (foods) displayed at prominent in-store locations within Australian supermarkets, including analyses by supermarket group and area-level socio-economic position. A cross-sectional in-store audit of price promotions on foods at key display areas was undertaken in 104 randomly selected stores from major Australian supermarket groups (Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and independents) in Victoria, Australia. Of the display space dedicated to foods with price promotions, three of the four supermarket groups had a greater proportion of display space devoted to unhealthy (compared to healthy) foods at each promotional location measured (end of aisles: 66%; island bins: 53%; checkouts: 88%). Aldi offered very few price promotions. Few measures varied by area-level socio-economic position. This study demonstrated that price promotions at prominent in-store locations in Australian supermarkets favoured unhealthy foods. Marketing of this nature is likely to encourage the purchase of unhealthy foods, highlighting the need for retailers and policy-makers to consider addressing in-store pricing and placement strategies to encourage healthier food environments.

BackgroundThis study evaluates changes in sales of non-alcoholic beverages in Jamie’s Italian, a national chain of commercial restaurants in the UK, following the introduction of a £0.10 per-beverage levy on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and supporting activity including beverage menu redesign, new products and establishment of a children’s health fund from levy proceeds.MethodsWe used an interrupted time series design to quantify changes in sales of non-alcoholic beverages 12 weeks and 6 months after implementation of the levy, using itemised electronic point of sale data. Main outcomes were number of SSBs and other non-alcoholic beverages sold per customer. Linear regression and multilevel random effects models, adjusting for seasonality and clustering, were used to investigate changes in SSB sales across all restaurants (n=37) and by tertiles of baseline restaurant SSB sales per customer.ResultsCompared with the prelevy period, the number of SSBs sold per customer declined by 11.0% (−17.3% to −4.3%) at 12 weeks and 9.3% (−15.2% to −3.2%) at 6 months. For non-levied beverages, sales per customer of children’s fruit juice declined by 34.7% (−55.3% to −4.3%) at 12 weeks and 9.9% (−16.8% to −2.4%) at 6 months. At 6 months, sales per customer of fruit juice increased by 21.8% (14.0% to 30.2%) but sales of diet cola (−7.3%; −11.7% to −2.8%) and bottled waters (−6.5%; −11.0% to −1.7%) declined. Changes in sales were only observed in restaurants in the medium and high tertiles of baseline SSB sales per customer.ConclusionsIntroduction of a £0.10 levy on SSBs alongside complementary activities is associated with declines in SSB sales per customer in the short and medium term, particularly in restaurants with higher baseline sales of SSBs.

We construct two examples of shareholder networks in which shareholders are connected if they have shares in the same company. We do this for the shareholders in Turkish companies and we compare this against the network formed from the shareholdings in Dutch companies. We analyse the properties of these two networks in terms of the different types of shareholder. We create a suitable randomised version of these networks to enable us to find significant features in our networks. For that we find the roles played by different types of shareholder in these networks, and also show how these roles differ in the two countries we study.

To (i) describe the proportion of foods and beverages available on school canteen menus classified as having high ('green'), moderate ('amber') or low ('red') nutritional value; (ii) describe the proportion of these items purchased by students; and (iii) examine the association between food and beverage availability on school canteen menus and food and beverage purchasing by students. A cross-sectional study was conducted as part of a larger randomised controlled trial (RCT). A nested sample of fifty randomly selected government schools from the Hunter New England region of New South Wales, Australia, who had participated in an RCT of an intervention to improve the availability of healthy foods sold from school canteens, was approached to participate. School principals, canteen managers and students. The average proportion of green, amber and red items available on menus was 47·9, 47·4 and 4·7 %, respectively. The average proportion of green, amber and red items purchased by students was 30·1, 61·8 and 8·1 %, respectively. There was a significant positive relationship between the availability and purchasing of green (R 2=0·66), amber (R 2=0·57) and red menu items (R 2=0·61). In each case, a 1 % increase in the availability of items in these categories was associated with a 1·21, 1·35 and 1·67 % increase in purchasing of items of high, moderate and low nutritional value, respectively. The findings provide support for school-based policies to improve the relative availability of healthy foods for sale in these settings.