Working to

make everyday life healthy,

by design.

 
 
 

We help companies own their outcome.

Building H is a nonprofit research group dedicated to changing the product environment so that it creates health, not disease.

  • We believe that everyday life - the food we eat, the entertainment we consume, the transportation we use, the communities we live in - should make it easier to be healthy, not harder.

  • We believe that all companies should account for and be accountable for how their products impact human health.

  • We measure the impacts of products, services, and companies on the health of consumers.

 

Our work.

 

The Index

We rate and rank products based on how they impact consumer health.

Newsletter

Every two weeks we report on what’s emerging in healthy culture.

Projects

Other things we’ve done to advance the vision of health in everyday life.

 

News & updates.

 
Featured
Newsletter | Getting Beyond the Six-Second Hug
Newsletter | Getting Beyond the Six-Second Hug

Building H arose from a simple perspective: that the modern world makes it hard for people to be healthy. Good health doesn’t naturally flow from going about our everyday business, so we have to be intentional, we have to work at it.

Newsletter | Should Dunkin’ Be Generally Recognized as Safe?
Newsletter | Should Dunkin’ Be Generally Recognized as Safe?

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. went viral recently when he suggested that he was going to ask companies like Dunkin’ (nee Dunkin’ Donuts) and Starbucks for safety data proving that it’s “okay for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it.” When a Boston Globe reporter picked up the comment and ran a story on it, New Englanders rebelled. After all, Dunkin’ is, for better or for worse, a New England institution.

Newsletter | Do Nudges Even Work?
Newsletter | Do Nudges Even Work?

Remember when we thought all it would take to fix society’s problems was a little nudge, here and there? 

Want to boost recycling rates? Make the recycling bin bigger, and label the garbage one “LANDFILL.” Want to reduce obesity? Use smaller plates and put salads first in the buffet line.

Newsletter | New Food Guidelines: The Steaks Are High
Newsletter | New Food Guidelines: The Steaks Are High

The much anticipated update of the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans came out earlier this month. There was much to like, such as stronger language on added sugars and a caution against eating "highly processed” (read “ultraprocessed”) foods, much that’s been controversial (more protein, more meat, and more saturated fats) and even some puzzles (one can’t actually meet the protein recommendations without straying afoul of the recommended saturated fat ceiling).

 

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