The George Institute’s top 5 most read stories of 2023!
2023 has been another significant and pivotal year for The George Institute for Global Health. Our team has continued to deliver ground-breaking research across our strategic pillars of better care, better treatments and healthier societies. We’ve forged new research partnerships and welcomed new leadership across our offices.
As we look forward to new milestones and achievements in 2024, let's take a look at the stories that captured our readers' attention this year!
Are plant-based meats really better for us than the real thing?
Research led by Maria Shahid found that despite the growing popularity of plant-based meat substitutes, there is very little evidence of the actual health impact of these products.
The team concluded that until more is known about the health impacts of plant-based meat analogues and there are recommendations on how to include them as part of a healthy balanced diet, it's best to eat them in moderation.
Destination for Safety 2024 revealed as Delhi
We were excited to announce that Safety 2024 - the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion - is to be held in Delhi, hosted by The George Institute India.
The theme for Safety 2024 - Emerging Challenges in Injury Prevention: transformation and resilience for a safer world - reflects these aims with a “co-design” and “co-benefit” agenda, encouraging researchers and practitioners to look beyond just injury or violence prevention to inclusive and broader actions which can affect health such as air quality and climate change.
Why is Mongolia the stroke capital of the world and what can be done?
Research in collaboration with the Institute of Medical Sciences in Mongolia found the burden of stroke in Mongolia affects a much younger population compared to high-income countries (HICs). Stroke in Mongolia occur at a mean age of 60 years, which is at least 10 years earlier than the average age in HICs.
Apart from highlighting the age disadvantage, the study also revealed that the incidence of haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding into the brain from a ruptured blood vessel. In Mongolia, the incidence of haemorrhagic stroke is several-fold higher than anywhere elsewhere in the world.
New study shows common blood pressure meds under-used for migraine
The first known large-scale review of international studies on the positive effect of blood pressure (BP) medicines across all classes in preventing migraine showed that these common drugs could be used much more widely, at a lower cost, than is the case with current practice.
Results indicated that not all BP medications are equally effective in preventing migraine. The George Institute will soon publish a further review to give more insight into which of the various mechanisms are most effective.
Food industry failing to meet Government’s Health Star Rating targets
In November - a new report found that Australia’s food industry is failing to meet the already low targets for displaying Health Star Ratings (HSRs) on product packaging by a significant margin.
The 2023 State of the Food Supply Report also highlighted how the food industry is preferentially applying HSRs to healthier categories and avoiding showing star ratings on the packaging of low-rating, less healthy items. With HSRs still missing on more than half of all products, consumers are being denied the chance to use this information.