Preventive Health Collaboration

Preventive Health Collaboration

Most diseases of modern life can be prevented. Many can be reversed.

It is never too late to start, and you don’t have to do it alone.

We build the evidence, teach it widely and campaign for policies that put prevention first.

Formerly Public Health Collaboration. Registered charity 1171887 / SC052248.

Dr David Unwin FRCGP, smiling, in a shirt and blue bow tieAs seen on The Diary of a CEO

Dr David Unwin FRCGP

Founding member, NHS GP and Chair of our Scientific Advisory Committee

Every figure links to its source.

Our story

Catch them upstream

People keep falling into a river. Our health service works heroically downstream, pulling them out and handing them a life jacket. We walk upstream to find out why they are falling in, and to stop it happening.

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Most health charities do vital work on research, treatment and new drugs for people who already have a condition. Your gift funds the other half of the story: preventive research and education that stop these diseases before they start.

Catch them upstream: prevention stops people falling into the river. Upstream, people build a fence along the bank with research and education while someone falls in. Ultra-processed food, sugary drinks, inactivity, poor sleep and chronic stress can all push people in. Midstream, a helper pulls someone up a ladder out of the water: lifestyle change helps people climb back out. Downstream, rescuers with a lifebuoy and a hook reach people still in the river beside a hospital and medicines: drugs, surgery and hospitals keep people afloat, where most health funding goes.
Four friends sharing a home-cooked meal at a garden table while children play behind them

Why prevention matters

Prevention means more years like these.

Prevention is not instead of medicine. It is what keeps people from needing so much of it.

Many conditions, from type 2 diabetes to high blood pressure, can often be improved and sometimes reversed with the right changes. We want every family to know how.

Read our story

Four areas of prevention

Where prevention can make the biggest difference

Many chronic diseases share common risks we can change. Some are well known, such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Others get far less attention but matter just as much: what we eat, how we move and sleep, chronic stress, and our wider circumstances. Many of these push blood sugar and insulin too high for too long, which is why metabolic health sits at the heart of our work. Improving them can help prevent several diseases at once.

  • Blood sugar & metabolic health

    How your body manages energy. It affects conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity, fatty liver and high blood pressure.

    What is metabolic health?

    Metabolic health is about how well your body processes and uses energy, including how it regulates blood sugar, insulin, fats, and blood pressure. Poor metabolic health can increase the risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver and cardiovascular disease and may also contribute to the risk of some cancers and brain diseases. It is an important part of the wider picture of prevention.

    • Eat real food
    • Cut sugar and refined starch
    • Move after meals
    Explore the evidence on blood sugar & metabolic health
  • Cancer

    Lowering the odds through lifestyle, from food to alcohol.

    • Don’t smoke, drink less
    • Keep a healthy weight
    • Stay active
    Explore the evidence on cancer
  • Brain health

    Dementia, depression and the food and mood connection.

    • Steady blood sugar
    • Sleep and exercise
    • Stay connected
    Explore the evidence on brain health
  • Heart and stroke

    Protecting the heart and blood vessels for life.

    • Know your blood pressure
    • Don’t smoke
    • Move, sleep and connect
    Explore the evidence on heart and stroke

Free guides

Five free guides, coming soon

Plain, practical, evidence-based guides, currently undergoing scientific review. Pick the one that matches what is on your mind, and we will email them to you as soon as they are published.

  • Guide 1

    The Root of It All

    Metabolic health and obesity

    Coming soon

  • Guide 2

    Changing the Odds

    Cancer

    Coming soon

  • Guide 3

    A Mind for Life

    Dementia and brain health

    Coming soon

  • Guide 4

    The Heart of the Matter

    Heart disease and stroke

    Coming soon

  • Guide 5

    A Free Guide to Weight Loss

    Why diets fail, and what really works

    Coming soon

Taking medication? Keep taking your medication, and talk to your doctor before changing it.

Get the guides when they are published

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