The accidental epidemiologist: losing the way or following social-epidemiological leads?

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Abstract
As academics we focus very much on epidemiological matters discussed in the forum of a fairly narrow range of published literature, yet the real stuff of epidemiology (and its contribution to public health medicine) is constantly taking place in the wider world around us. This editorial was written at the beginning of the calendar year, a time when, once again, magazines, newspapers and television overflow with advice for improving health and well-being. Each January we are repeatedly bombarded with messages to quit smoking, lose weight and do more exercise. ‘Start the new year right—treat your body to a tune-up!’ Indeed, health and well-being ‘tips’ are now a perennial feature of an approach to health which in the West has become overwhelmingly individualistic, and increasingly consumerist—health (and health care) is something that the individual purchases.

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