881 - The Building H Index: Ranking Consumer Products By Their Impacts On Our Health

Public Health On Call

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Novelcoronavirus, Health, Publichealth, Covid, Globalhealth, Coronavirus, News, Health & Fitness, Education, Medicine, Covid19, Science

4.8 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

About this episode:

Consumer products from auto makers to housing developers to streaming and food delivery services all have impacts on our health. In this episode: A look at the Building H Index, which calculates a health score for these products and services and makes recommendations to companies about how to make their products healthier. Note: Building H is a program of the nonprofit Public Health Institute and the Index does not receive any funds from the companies that are rated.

Guest:

Steve Downs is a cofounder of the Building H Index.

Host:

Dr. Josh Sharfstein is vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a faculty member in health policy, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland’s Health Department.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
0:06.0	where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.
0:16.4	If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhh.edu.
0:23.9	That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes.
0:31.5	Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Rogers.
0:33.8	Today, the Building H Index, a rating of consumer products and services for how they
0:40.1	influence the health of their users. Steve Downs, a co-founder of the Building Age Index, talks with
0:46.6	Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the origins of the ratings, how it works, and what companies rate the
0:52.1	highest and lowest for health. The Building
0:55.3	H Index, by the way, does not receive any funds from the companies that are rated. It is a
0:59.8	program of the nonprofit Public Health Institute. Let's listen. Steve Downs, thanks so much for
1:06.1	joining me today on Public Health On Call, to talk about the Building H index.
1:11.6	And am I correct that the H in the Building H index stands for health?
1:16.6	You are absolutely correct. It does.
1:19.6	And the index in the building each index is like a ranking of companies for how they relate to health.
1:30.2	Exactly right.
1:31.2	Yeah, the Building H-Index rates and ranks everyday products and services on how they impact
1:36.2	the health behaviors of their users.
1:37.7	So we look at products and services across four industries, entertainment, food, housing,
1:43.9	and transportation. These are products like Netflix, entertainment, food, housing, and transportation.
1:45.7	These are products like Netflix, Uber, DoorDash, also restaurants like Chick-fil-A and Taco
1:50.6	Bell, automobile manufacturers like Ford and Toyota, and even the nation's largest home
	...

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