Building H

Should companies be accountable for how their products affect consumers’ health? We think so - and so we did something. Today we released the 2024 Building H Index, which rates and ranks more than 75 popular products and services from companies like Netflix, Uber, Apple, Chick-fil-A and Doordash, on how they affect the health of their users. The Building H Index is the most comprehensive look yet at the impact of the “product environment” on our health. In this era of epidemic chronic disease, with unacceptably high rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and more, we looked outside the healthcare industry to assess how the food, entertainment, transportation, and housing sectors affect our health. These industries have a massive, if long overlooked, impact on human health that the new Building H Index seeks to quantify and document. It’s a whole new way to think about how the commercial environment impacts human health. See how different companies fared and read our takeaways at https://lnkd.in/ehYVyj4S #BuildingHIndex #SDOH

As we pursue our mission to build health into everyday life, we are always lifted up by people who contribute their time, expertise, connections, enthusiasm and more. Sending gratitude today to a list of folks who've helped out over the last few weeks: Samir Khanna, Kim Bellard, Greg S Garrett, Sydney Drever, Kelsey Sorrell, Chloe reibold, Angelique West, Sara Farhat, Ramon P. Llamas, MPH (LION), Peter Boland, PhD, Joshua M. Sharfstein, Janani Balasubramanian, Karleen Giannitrapani PhD, Eric Solomon, Ph.D., Yogi (Yugan) Sikri, Grant Skinner, Jonathan Gruber, David Rehkopf, Amy Chung, Carol Passarelli, Morgan McDonald, MD FACP FAAP, Christine Haran, Estelle Reardon and Amy Bucher. Grateful for you all!

Whether artificial general intelligence is right around the corner or still many years away, powerful AI is here today and its impact is already being seen. In our latest newsletter, we look at how it is being deployed and how that is shaped by the our current cultural and economic context, with perspectives from Kevin Roose, Ezra Klein, Ben Buchanan and Catherine Bracy. We’re already seeing ways in which it is be exploited to make it harder for people to be healthy. How do we prepare for its impact? Plus: - Dalton Conley on the fascinating new field of sociogenomics; - walkable neighborhoods protect against dementia; - a deep dive from Civil Eat’s Lisa Held on the controversy about banning unhealthy food and drinks from SNAP; and - has the mental health crisis among young Americans peaked? https://lnkd.in/eRFx4NYh

Learn about comfort food — and our favorite new podcast episodes in our latest newsletter…

Comfort food is supposed to make us feel better - it’s right there in the name. And indeed, most people choose comfort foods when they want to feel better. But does it actually make us feel better - as in, does it improve our mental health? Actually, no - high fat/high sugar/high salt foods are not good for mental health. But it turns out there is a lot of research about diets that *are* shown to reduce rates of depression, alleviate anxiety, even improve cognition. We dig into the new frontier of nutritional psychiatry in the new Building H newsletter, out just now! read here: https://lnkd.in/ecKnmEZT and subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gRUnk2c4

We're on a mission to change the landscape of everyday products and services so that it becomes easier for people to live healthy lives. It's a huge challenge and we're always grateful for the people who contribute to that mission in large and small ways. Sending gratitude to some folks who helped out over the last few weeks: Wendy Troxel, Sarah Gillen, Halle Tecco, MPH, MBA, Michael Esquivel, Jamie Bussel, Sydney Drever, Sara Farhat, Chloe reibold, Kelsey Sorrell, Angelique West, Yogi (Yugan) Sikri, Ramon P. Llamas, MPH (LION), Kim Bellard, Joanne Cheung, Anna De Paula Hanika, David Rehkopf, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, Kelly McCarthy, Devon Klatell, Michelle Obijekwu, MPH, Jessica Freireich, Elliott Wortham, Samir Khanna, Megan Ranney, Tony Iton, Grant Skinner and Carol Passarelli. Thank you all!

Many of America’s favorite products are designed to maximize profits at the expense of our health. Thomas Goetz, co-founder of PHI’s Building H, joins?The Heart of Healthcare?podcast to discuss the Building H Index—a tool that rates and ranks products and services across the entertainment, food, housing and transportation industries,?based on their impacts on five health behaviors. He explains how the Index can help keep corporations accountable?and highlights some of the companies getting health right, from Pokemon Go to sustainable housing developers.

The death rate for younger Americans (25-44) has been increasing steadily over the past decade. In our latest newsletter, we look at what's going on, with new research from Elizabeth Wrigley-Field and from Atul Grover, MD, PhD and Megan Ranney. There's a particular uptick in early onset cancers and we share an in-depth report on why from Jamie Ducharme. Plus: - Apple plans a massive health study - what went wrong with socially responsible investing - what it's like to live at Culdesac Tempe, the car-free development that took the top spot in our Building H Index and - a podcast interview with our co-founder Thomas Goetz. https://lnkd.in/ezbx6RS5

As part of our series of speculative design projects to imagine a healthy future, we're working with a team of University of Washington Human Centered Design & Engineering grad students on a capstone project reimagining entertainment to support human well-being. They're researching the modalities, settings and motivations around digital and non-digital entertainment habits. Please consider joining this project by taking a short survey: https://lnkd.in/eSNUcu3z

Are we making it too hard to be healthy? I recently listened to "Can We Make Companies Care About Your Health?", and it got me thinking. So much of what influences our well-being—the food we eat, how we move, how we work, how we spend our time—is shaped by the world around us. Yet, we often talk about health as if it’s just an individual choice. This is where Building H offers such a powerful perspective. Instead of making well-being a personal struggle, what if our cities, workplaces, and products were designed to support health effortlessly? That idea really resonates with me. As a clinician, I’ve seen how hard it is for people to make healthy choices when the system isn’t built for it. It’s not just about motivation—it’s about access, design, and support. That’s exactly why we built Beyond Rehab—to make specialized, proactive care seamless and accessible for people from the comfort of their homes. - Care shouldn’t be reactive—it should be built into life. - It shouldn’t be hard to get expert support—whether individually or in a group setting. -And most importantly, people shouldn’t have to wait until they’re in crisis to get help. At Beyond Rehab, we’re building toward that vision—making it virtual, proactive, and designed around people’s real lives. Because health shouldn’t feel like an uphill battle—it should be something that happens naturally, through better design and support. So here’s what I’m left thinking: How do we make well-being something people don’t have to “work on”—but something that just happens because life is designed that way? Would love to hear your thoughts. #HealthByDesign #BuildingH #BeyondRehab #ProactiveCare #VirtualCare #Wellbeing #SystemsChange #chroniconditions #parkinsons