Earlier this month, Mehmood Khan spoke with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about research into new salt, beverage sweeteners, bottles made from orange peels, compostable chip bags and “drinkable oats.” Mehmood ended the interview by saying, “You learn, you continue
 to improve, you stay ahead.” Read the whole interview to find out more. Read more

Derek Yach, PepsiCo’s Senior Vice President, Global Health Policy is attending the Clinton Global Initiative this week in New York. Yesterday, he spoke with Fast Company about PepsiCo’s commitment to delivering a healthier portfolio of products and protecting natural resources. He also suggested three trends that he believes are converging to advance public-private partnerships. An excerpt of the conversation is below. “In the long term, there will be a confluence between profitability and health concerns and the quality of the environment. Consumers differentiate where they buy their products depending on their health and commitment to the environment. In order for people to buy from you, they have to trust the brand and the company, not just like the taste and the flavor. People care how your ingredients are sourced and your ethical use of resources, and the quality and nutrition of your food.” See the complete blog... Read more

For 35 years, the Global Health Council has focused on critical needs in health and has often raised the clarion call for emerging public health challenges. These have included AIDS, children’s health, reproductive rights of women, and the spread of infectious diseases. This year, progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was the central theme and I participated in the opening plenary along with Tessa Wadlow from UNICEF, Ambassador Wegger Strommen from Norway, Minister of Health Kakooza from Uganda, and Sering Falu Njie from the UN Millennium Campaign. With 5 years to go before the MDG goals, set in 1990, need to be achieved, there was strong evidence of progress on several global health goals. Progress includes improved access to water, declines in under nutrition, sharp increases in vaccine coverage, and greater access to malaria bed nets. However, the attainment of these goals remains uneven with... Read more

PepsiCo touches the lives of tens of millions of people every day. We are driven by the belief that by joining forces with partners across many sectors, we can make a far greater impact in the fight to reduce obesity and address other global nutrition needs than by working alone. As part of our efforts to help reduce obesity in the U.S., we are a founding member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF). The Foundation is a CEO-led organization and a national, multi-year effort designed to help reduce obesity – especially childhood obesity – by 2015. On Monday, the HWCF joined First Lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America to announce its new pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories by the end of 2015. “Solving the obesity epidemic requires far more than anything government can do alone and today’s announcement represents an important... Read more

George Mensah is currently Director, Heart Health and Global Health Policy at PepsiCo. His role on the R&D team is focused on the company’s initiatives to promote heart health around the world. George came to PepsiCo from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution caught up with George to find out a little more about his transition to PepsiCo and how he sees the company’s role in global public health efforts. See the link below for more details, and if you have any questions for George please post them in the comments section: Atlanta Journal Constitution: Whatever happened to… George Mensah? Read more

The observance of World Hypertension Day provides a unique opportunity to raise awareness about hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure (HBP).  This condition is often called a “silent killer” because many people who succumb to its complications often do not even know they have it.  An estimated 1.5 billion people in the world have HBP and about 7 million people die every year as a result.  Other than advancing age, HBP is the most powerful risk factor for stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and it is second only to diabetes as the leading cause of end-stage kidney failure.  Knowing your blood pressure is important because most complications can be prevented if high blood pressure is detected early, treated, and controlled. When your blood pressure is measured you will be given two numbers (for example, 120/80). If your first number is always less than 120 and the second... Read more

April is Minority Health Month and this year’s theme is “Man Up for Health: Healthy Men Move Our Communities Forward.” PepsiCo applauds the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for highlighting the need to help men, especially minority men, realize that they have much more control over their health than they may think. Men, particularly African-American and Hispanic men, are at higher risk for serious health conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. However, many of the conditions that increase their health risk are preventable through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. Of the 10 leading causes of death in men, six (eating less fat, eating more fruits and vegetables, lowering sodium, etc) are directly influenced by diet and exercise choices. PepsiCo can help make it easier than expected to improve diets via our expanding global portfolio of healthier products. Many of our products can make... Read more

In order to highlight the importance of World Health Day, we asked Derek Yach, PepsiCo’s Senior Vice President for Global Health Policy, a few questions. What is World Health Day? World Health Day 2010 is today, April 7. The theme this year is ‘1000 cities, 1000 lives’ and the focus is on opening up public spaces to health – via things like activities in parks, town hall meetings, clean-up campaigns, or closing off portions of streets to motorized vehicles. The World Health Organization aims to collect 1000 stories of urban health champions who have taken action and had a significant impact on health in their cities. Events are being held this week in cities all over the world in order to promote health in urban areas. Why the focus on urbanization and health? Currently over 3 billion people live in cities and over the next 30 years virtually all... Read more

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report today called, “Promoting Cardiovascular Health in the Developing World: A Critical Challenge to Achieving Global Health.” The report is of great interest to my colleagues at PepsiCo and me because it mentions the important role of the private sector in addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) around the world. It’s also important to note that I served as an IOM committee member for this report and Mehmood Khan and George Mensah’s paper, Changing Practices to Improve Dietary Outcomes and Reduce Cardiovascular Risk: A Food Company’s Perspective, is cited. The report highlights the reality that heart disease and stroke are the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 28% of all deaths. Death rates in developing countries such as China, India and Mexico have become much higher than those in developed countries. Of growing concern is that deaths occur up to... Read more

Last week I participated in Agenda 2010: The Turning Point On Poverty sponsored by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The conference recognized the progress being made towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals but focused primarily on the MDGs on which the international community is failing to make the most progress: hunger and nutrition, and education and health. The conference addressed conditions needed to enable the MDGs to be met, including economic growth, stable states, the empowerment of women and tackling climate change. PepsiCo was one of two food companies, along with Unilever, invited to participate along with over 80 technical experts, key ministers and policy makers from developing countries. Of particular interest was DFID unveiling their first global under nutrition program which targets six countries. Two of them, Nigeria and India, coincide with work PepsiCo is doing in those countries on under-nutrition. I also was... Read more