This week in MoneyWeek: profit as the world’s waistline expands

published 29 September 2017

In this week's MoneyWeek magazine: the fight against obesity; combating cancer; and an healthcare investment trust to buy now.

This week's moneyweek magazine has a distinctly medical flavour. Our cover story, from regular contributor Jonathan Compton, is about how investors can help the world fight its weight problem. Dr Michael Tubbs looks at the new generation of anti-cancer drugs; and Max King picks the best healthcare investment trust to buy now.

There's more than that, of course this week's issue runs to a bumper 52 pages. There's news, comment and expert analysis from the markets, politics and economics; share tips from the rest of the UK press; personal finance; pensions; property and more.

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And, as with the last couple of weeks, for a short time only, all our content is freely available on the MoneyWeek website. Have around now or click on the links below to go direct to the articles. I you like what you see (and we're confident you will), why not sign up to the magazine? You'll gt it delivered straight to your door, plus full access to the MoneyWeek website and our smartphone and tablet app. Sign up here now.

Pile on the pounds while fighting the flab

The world is developing a weight problem. "Put bluntly", says regular contributor Jonathan Compton, "people are getting fatter." The reason isn't quite as obvious as you might think. "We are forever being urged to cut back on the number of calories we eat", says Jonathan. But "the fact is, we have and significantly." The average Briton consumes 2,200 calories day, that's down from 2,400 in 2001. Go back 70 years to the end of WWII, and we ate a positively humongous 2,900 calories a day. So it's clear that the emphasis on controlling our food intake is misplaced. The problem is our activity levels. We're all too lazy for our own good. Jonathan explains in some detail the high price we're paying for our ever-expanding waistlines and looks at how we can slim down.

So how should you invest? Jonathan picks seven investments to buy now, from healthcare and pharmaceutical stocks to food and drinks manufacturers. Find out what they are here.

Join the fight against cancer

For many years, the mainstays of cancer treatment have been chemotherapy and radiotherapy, says Dr Mike Tubbs. But they have some well-publicised side effects. and in many cases they prove inadequate. But now there's a new generation of anti-cancer drugs being developed by the world's pharmaceutical companies. A few promising treatments have been approved by the regulators, giving seriously ill patients new hope. Mike looks at what's in the pipeline, and picks the best ways for you to invest.

Find out how

An exceptional healthcare trust to buy now

It's certainly an exciting time in the healthcare sector with innovation continuing apace, much of the sector trading at attractive valuations, and governments around the world expected to increase their spending. So, continuing the medical theme, Max King looks at an "exceptional trust" in the sector that has multiplied investors' money 30-fold in just 22 years. Find out what it is now.

There's plenty more. Matthew Lynn gives us his take on the spat between Uber and TfL; Alex Rankine looks behind the headlines of the US immigration row; and John Stepek warns against companies whose earnings look too good to be true. Matthew Partridge explores shorting Facebook; David Prosser asks if pensions freedom rules have been good or bad for savers, and Emma Lunn looks at the pros and cons of raffling your house.

As I said above, all of these articles and more are now freely available for you to read on the MoneyWeek website. But time is running out. So have a look around, and if you like what you see, sign up here.

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.