The Solutionists, with Mark Scott

What are ultra processed foods doing to your body?

Walk down the cereal aisle. Pick up a box of cereal. The front says "real nourishment" and shows a 4.5-star health rating. Flip it over. It's 25% sugar, packed with emulsifiers, flavors, and protein isolates – it’s full of ingredients you probably can’t even pronounce if you’ve ever heard of them before.  Welcome to Australia's national diet: ultra-processed.  Associate Professor Phillip Baker is the co-lead of a major Lancet series on ultra processed foods, one of the biggest global health challenges of our time.   He says over half of what Australians eat is now ultra processed, and our diet is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and mental health problems.  Phil explains why these foods are why these foods are so ubiquitous now, examines what they’re doing to our health, how policy needs to change to protect real food, and how individuals can fight back with their forks.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios [https://deadsetstudios.com/]. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sydneyuni/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sydney_uni/?hl=en], and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/sydney.edu.au].  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

TB isn't history – why millions still die from a curable disease

You probably think TB is a disease of the past. But that’s not because we’ve beat it. It’s because we’ve moved it elsewhere. Every year, over 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis and it's concentrated where people are poorest, where overcrowding helps it spread, and where a six-month treatment course can mean losing your job, or even your social life.  Professor Greg Fox is an infectious diseases physician who treats TB patients in Sydney and leads research across Southeast Asia.   Greg outlines Australia’s responsibility to its neighbours in battling TB, and explains why cultural barriers like stigma make treatment so difficult in countries like Vietnam.   Read more about tuberculosis in Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. [https://everythingistb.com/]  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios [https://deadsetstudios.com/]. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sydneyuni/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sydney_uni/?hl=en], and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/sydney.edu.au].  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Hooked again – why a new generation is addicted to nicotine

A new generation has become addicted to nicotine.   Australia almost had smoking beaten. Thanks to decades of education, regulation and cultural change, smoking rates plummeted. And then: vaping.   Lily started vaping at 17 and hasn't been able to stop. Social vaping quickly became a daily dependency, and now it affects every aspect of her life - from her health, sleep and appetite to her bank account.  Professor Becky Freeman from the University of Sydney School of Public Health has spent 25 years working in tobacco control. Now she's tackling vaping, and she says this disruption wasn't accidental.  Becky reveals how a loophole during the pandemic allowed vapes to flood Australian retail stores, why enforcement has been so difficult, and what's finally starting to work. The good news? School vaping rates are coming down thanks to targeted education programs and tighter regulations.  Learn more about Becky's work with Generation Vape [https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/cancer-prevention/smoking/generation-vape/] and Our Futures [https://ourfuturesinstitute.org.au/vaping-program/].  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios [https://deadsetstudios.com/]. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sydneyuni/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sydney_uni/?hl=en], and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/sydney.edu.au].  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Do high-impact sports damage our brains?

Whether it’s watching your kids play their local club fixtures or gathering around the telly for the grand final, sport brings Australians together more than almost anything else. But there’s a hidden – and potentially deadly – cost.  Lydia loves Aussie Rules football, but she was forced to retire from the sport before turning 30. After a series of head knocks, the risk of another is too high, and managing the symptoms of her injuries is a daily struggle. Associate Professor Michael Buckland studies the brain, and through the Australian Sports Brain Bank, he examines the brains of athletes who’ve passed away. He’s worried by just how many brains come into the bank and are revealed to have CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy.   It’s a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head impacts over a long period of time. In other words, the kind of thing that might happen if you’ve been playing collision sports since you were a kid.   Michael explains how our understanding of CTE has changed in recent years, its causes, and most importantly, how we can mitigate the risk of CTE for all athletes, of all ages.   NOTE: This episode contains a reference to suicide. If you need support, please contact Lifeline [https://www.lifeline.org.au/] on 13 11 44 or Beyond Blue [https://www.beyondblue.org.au/] on 1300 224 636. For listeners outside Australia, please seek services in your region.  +++  The Solutionists is podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios [https://www.deadsetstudios.com/]. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Twitter [https://twitter.com/Sydney_Uni?ref_src=twsrc%5egoogle|twcamp%5eserp|twgr%5eauthor], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sydneyuni/], and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sydney_uni/?hl=en].  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

What happens when you send a child to jail?

When Professor Jioji Ravulo speaks at conferences overseas, he knows one piece of information about his work will shock just about everyone. He tells them that in some parts of Australia, children as young as 10 years old can be charged as adults for particular crimes. As predicted, jaws drop.  Meanwhile, some politicians insist that Australia needs to be even tougher on youth crime, despite the evidence Jioji and his peers have been seeing for years. Jioji says the punitive approach we currently use in Australia doesn’t just fail to ensure public safety, it actually hurts children. Jioji advocates for a youth justice model that instead looks at the whole context of a young person who’s committed a crime, and prioritises rehabilitation.  Taleigha, a Burapai First Nations woman, shares her experience in the juvenile justice system. She offers a personal perspective on how the current legal framework can fail children and affect entire communities, showing the human side behind the statistics and research. +++ The Solutionists is podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sydneyuni/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sydney_uni/?hl=en], and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/sydney.edu.au]. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.