An unhealthy diet is Australia’s key modifiable risk factor, resulting in more than 500,000 years of life lost to death and disability each year so it’s important that healthcare service providers provide a good role model. ​

Together, Professor Anna Peeters and Dr Miranda Blake, and colleagues, have produced large quantities of evidence that show it is possible to change the way food is sold to make it more healthy, and without disadvantage to the retailers - in fact, it can benefit them.

In research conducted through Alfred Health, Professor Peeters and Dr Blake, modelled a change that saw the promotion of healthy drinks over sugary drinks in hospital onsite cafes and food services, and this has led the way for other mandated, but not legislated changes in health-services retail.

Alfred Deakin Professor Anna Peeters is Director of Deakin University’s Institute for Health Transformation; and also Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health, known as REFRESH, a collaboration of eight universities and organisations, and a member of the Collaboration for Enhanced Research Impact (CERI).

Dr Miranda Blake is a dietician and Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE), a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention. Miranda leads a program of research within RE-FRESH - bringing together health services policy makers together to improve food in health facilities - and has just won the Dietitians Australia Young Achievers Award.