ArticleHealth policy and planning2026
Public policies addressing unhealthy diets in the South-East Asia region: identifying and countering the arguments that undermine policy implementation.
Article in Health policy and planning, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- SHAPE Asia: a regional community of practice for transforming food environments.Global health action · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In South-East Asia, government implementation of policies recommended for addressing unhealthy diets has generally been slow and fragmented, largely due to food industry opposition and a lack of effective cross-sectoral policy action. To help government policy-makers and other interest-holders address these issues, this study aimed to identify key arguments that undermine implementation of policies for addressing unhealthy diets in the region, and to propose a set of counter-strategies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 interest-holders based in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and performed a scoping review of diverse literature. Data analysis was guided by the 'Policy Dystopia Model', initially used to study the corporate political activity of the tobacco industry. Identified arguments were categorized into six themes: (i) questioning the policy design and development process; (ii) misrepresenting or distorting the supporting evidence, and/or presenting counter evidence; (iii) exaggerating and/or fabricating unintended consequences for health and equity; (iv) raising concerns about effects on the economy; (v) querying the policy's compatibility with trade and investment agreements and national laws; and (vi) raising concerns about restrictions on personal 'freedom'. To help counter these arguments, along with key material and structural factors that may increase their salience, we proposed the following set of counter-strategies: (i) develop a communication strategy to counter opposing arguments; (ii) implement governance measures to mitigate corporate influence on public health policy, research, and practice; (iii) implement governance measures to enable effective health-promoting intersectoral and interdepartmental coordination; and (iv) strengthen research, advocacy, and capacity-building on the determinants of health. Successful implementation of these counter-strategies will require extensive organization and collaboration among diverse interest-holders in South-East Asia and beyond.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.