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This month, the GWI announced it has reached a critical mass of 16 diverse Initiatives. Each of these global taskforces tackles a key industry issue and is chaired by an impassioned leader in that wellness field. As Philippe Bourguignon, partner at Revolution and former co-CEO of the World Economic Forum, put it, ”These Initiatives are really a brilliant structure for encouraging impartial, top-level collaboration among world-renowned experts in wellness to effect positive, global change in their areas of expertise.”

“Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills”
– Bloomberg, May 5, 2016

This article delves into the issue of whether “Big Food” is the next Big Tobacco – with all the destruction of value that this would imply – and describes a future industry that may find itself between food and pharmaceuticals. It focuses on Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, that is redefining itself as a scientifically-driven “nutrition, health and wellness company,” premised upon the idea that food could be the basis for an entirely new type of medication—both preventive treatments and therapies for acute disease.

The GWI and Everyday Health’s recent study, “Unlocking the Power of Company Caring” (based on a survey of U.S. employees), takes an in-depth look at how work environments impact employee health and productivity. A key finding was that, when it comes to what drives the most wellness at work, age matters. In the study, employees weighed in on their personal wellness priorities, and according to the results, millennials rated “emotional” and “social” wellness higher, Gen X placed a higher value on “intellectual” wellness, and for Baby Boomers, “physical” and “spiritual” wellness mattered more.

A new study just revealed that global obesity has skyrocketed 167 percent since 1975. It’s numbers like these that incited the U.K. to announce a tax on sugary drinks, rolling out in 2018. Read Malleret’s thoughts on how the structure of this new U.K. policy could have been simpler and smarter – but ultimately reveals the phenomenal power of the food/beverage industry – and his forecast that the obesity explosion will make it inevitable that more countries will start taxing high-sugar and highly-processed foods.

When guests return from a stay at a wellness/spa retreat, they may personally know that their physical and mental health has been improved, but the impact of these stays at global wellness retreats has remained largely anecdotal and under-analyzed. A new GWI Initiative, “The WORLD (Wellness Outcomes from Residential Lifestyle Destination) Retreat Study,” chaired by Professor Marc Cohen, professor of Health Sciences, RMIT University, aims to change that. This research project will empirically aggregate and assess the outcomes from wellness retreat stays through a standardized online assessment tool that will measure guests’ depression, stress, mood, sleep, health symptoms, quality of life and cognitive function, etc. before and after the retreat experience. This research will help lead to increased investment and government support for these facilities.

“The science of happiness can trump GDP as a guide for policy” – The Conversation, April 13, 2016

At a time when global GDP is bound to be structurally lower, this is an important article. The economist (best known for the “Easterlin Paradox”) argues that and explains why happiness could supplant GDP as a measure of societal wellbeing. He offers four reasons as to why happiness should be preferred to GDP. In a nutshell: “Happiness tells us how well a society satisfies the major concerns of people’s everyday life. GDP is a measure limited to one aspect of economic life: the production of material goods.”