The Rise of “Big Wellness”

Wellness is a trillion-dollar global industry that affects health and well-being in a variety of ways. Milbank Quarterly authors Nancy Karreman, PhD of the University of Cambridge and Nason Maani, PhD, MPH, of the University of Edinburgh, joined the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Public Health on Call podcast, for the June 15, 2026, episode, The Rise of “Big Wellness,” where they discussed their article, The Political Economy of Wellness: Commercial Determinants of a Burgeoning Industry.

In the episode, Joshua Sharfstein and the Quarterly authors delve into how social media fuels the industry’s proliferation, the growing skepticism of traditional medicine that allows it to thrive, and the tension between the concepts of wellness and public health.

“People feel like the current [health care] system doesn’t sufficiently value them,” Maani says in the podcast. “They feel left behind. And so these [wellness] marketing messages appeal precisely because there is this genuine unmet need.”