Psychedelic drugs to treat depression
Researchers are exploring the science of psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for depression. How effective could they be, and what are the regulatory and legal challenges in their use?

A POSTnote that describes the impact of poor diet on health, the underlying causes and policy approaches to address them.
Diet-related Health Inequalities (364 KB , PDF)
Poor diet is one of the biggest preventable risk factors for ill-health. Inequalities in diets contribute to overall inequalities in health. The recent cost-of-living crisis and food price increases have drawn attention to wider inequalities in access to healthy food across the population. This POSTnote gives an overview of the population most at risk of adverse diet-related health outcomes, the underlying causes of inequalities in access to healthy food and the evidence on the effectiveness of current policy approaches. It also summarises stakeholder perspectives, and discusses government strategies.
This topic is a focus in the Government’s 2020 Obesity Strategy, the Food Strategy, part of the Levelling Up agenda, and expected to feature in the Health Disparities White Paper, highlighting the cross-cutting issue of food and health inequalities in England.
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer-reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
Members of the POST Board*
Jean Adams, – University of Cambridge*
Jacquie Blake – Local Authority Caterers Association*
Katrina Brown – Cancer Research UK*
David Buck – The King’s Fund*
Malcolm Clark – Cancer Research UK*
Paul Coleman – City University*
Steven Cummins – London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine*
Emma Frew – University of Birmingham*
Sabine Goodwin – Independent Food Aid Network*
Shona Goudie – The Food Foundation*
Rachel Guthartz – Office for Health Improvement and Disparities*
Corinna Hawkes – City University*
Maxine Lenza – Cancer Research UK*
Rachel Loopstra – University of Liverpool*
Louise Marshall – Health Foundation*
Morven Oliver – Sustain*
Oyinlola Oyebode – Queen Mary University of London*
Bethan Page – Health Foundation*
Brad Pearce – Local Authority Caterers Association*
Alexander Peck – Office for Health Improvement and Disparities*
Madeleine Power – University of York
Thijs van Rens – University of Warwick*
Claire Thompson – University of Hertfordshire*
Beth Vincent – Cancer Research UK*
Martin White – University of Cambridge*
Eleanor Winpenny – University of Cambridge
* denotes people and organisations who acted as external reviewers of the briefing.
Diet-related Health Inequalities (364 KB , PDF)
Researchers are exploring the science of psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for depression. How effective could they be, and what are the regulatory and legal challenges in their use?
This briefing outlines what is known about the factors that shape gender incongruence and gender dysphoria. The impact on the NHS from increased referrals for gender identity care is discussed.
Applications are open for the 2024 Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy (C-DICE) Fellowship.