Supportingpolicymakersto overcomeopposition to Supporting policymakers to overcome opposition to regulatory policies for improving population dietsISBN: 978-92-9022-182-1 © World Health Organization 2025 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0IGO licence (CCBY-NC-SA3.0IGO;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes,provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be nosuggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo isnot permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent CreativeCommons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with themediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization.. Suggested citation. Supporting policymakers to overcome opposition to regulatory policies for improvingpopulation diets. New Delhi: World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2025. Licence:CCBY-NC-SA3.0IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data. CIP data are available athttp://apps.who.int/iris. Sales, rights and licensing. To purchase WHO publications, seehttp://apps.who.int/bookorders. To submitrequests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, seehttp://www.who.int/about/licensing. Third-party materials. If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such astables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse andto obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party- General disclaimers. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do notimply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country,territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dottedand dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement.The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication.However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be Printed in India Contents Acknowledgements Executive summary 1The commercial determinants ofhealthand nutrition 2Common arguments and correspondingtactics used to undermine policies to 3Key strategies to support health andnutrition policymakers (1)Changes to the policy environment(2)Direct actions: policymakers References Annexures 1.Overview of methods 2.Details of common arguments andtactics used and key strategies 3.Trade and investment agreements Acknowledgements This report was developed through a collaborative effort between the WorldHealth Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia and the Global Centrefor Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University, Australia. WHO We also extend our sincere appreciation to Faria Shabnam (WHO Bangladesh),Rachita Gupta (WHO India), Manjula Danansuriya (WHO Sri Lanka), and SusheraBunluesin (WHO Thailand) for their leadership and pivotal roles in conceptualizingand shaping the project. WHO further acknowledges the valuable contributions of Executive summary There is consensus on recommended policies for addressing the rising burdenof diet-related noncommunicable diseases. However, globally, implementation ofthese policies has generally been slow and inadequate. A key reason for inadequaterecommended policies is corporate interference strategies. This guide aims to support A consistent set of arguments and strategies are commonly advanced by industry andrelated groups across the South-East Asia Region to prevent, delay, weaken, or overturnevidence-informed regulatory and fiscal policies aimed at addressing unhealthy diets. Identified strategies were grouped into the following six domains: Questioning thepolicy design and developmentprocess Misrepresenting or distorting thesupporting evidence, ordeveloping counter evidence Overstatingunintended consequences on health and equityInflating concerns about impactson the economyQuerying the policy’scompatibility with law and trade agreementsRaising concerns regardingrestrictions on personal ‘freedom’ To effectively counter the above arguments, a number of counter-approaches a