Dr. Xand van Tulleken
speaker
1,476 appearances
9 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 6d ago
Dr. Xand van Tulleken’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 9 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 5.
Appearances
Definitely.
Devi, I want to come back a bit more to the economics, because the things that we think shorten our life expectancy now, particularly in the global north, but globally, are commercial interests.
So the automotive industry, firearms, ultra-processed food, plastics, tobacco, alcohol, gambling.
There's a long list of industries that curtail life and reduce our wellness.
How should we think about the role of those commercial interests in the public health discussion?
Just to formalize this, some people here will understand externalities, but these are...
costs where a fizzy drink company doesn't have to pay for cleaning up the plastic or for the cost to the healthcare service of children living with obesity or metabolic disease.
Those are costs that are real, but we pay them, the company doesn't.
But there's a tension, I think, in the public health discussion, because one of the things we know is really good for human longevity is economic growth.
If we look broadly at the world, the big economies, people live longer than low income countries.
And it is often said that bringing in the kind of regulations that improve public health
seatbelts, plain packaging for cigarettes, these kind of things, they stifle innovation, they stifle economic growth.
And so there's this tension between what people, I suppose, like us seem to want, and we're sometimes portrayed as not being on the side of a growing economy.
Do you think that critique is legitimate?
Do you think you are anti-economic growth, I suppose?
Devi, people feel quite overwhelmed, I think, may feel a bit overwhelmed by some of what we're saying, because we're talking about very big things and we are painting a picture that maybe there are forces that control our lives that we have less agency over.
Have you got a tip about how people might wrestle with that sense of overwhelm, with a sense of powerlessness?
Do you think we do have agency?
Devi, there's one question that we always ask all of our experts on WhatsApp Docs, which is how does your work affect the way you live your life?
It might be in big ways or it might be small ways about the way you shop or commute.
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