As I write this, the Prevention Fund is about to undergo -- or has just undergone -- a $5 billion amputation.

For those of us dedicated to disease prevention and health promotion, this is a very cruel cut indeed. The Prevention Fund is a key element...

This week, Wal-Mart announced the release of its home-grown, front-of-pack nutrition guidance system. In the world we actually live in, a world that runs on some bizarre admixture of Dunkin' and BS, I guess this is fine. Bully for Wal-Mart!

But in any other world -- a world...

A commentary published last week in Nature argues for the regulation of sugar as a toxic substance. The authors and I agree about ends -- reducing sugar intake -- but have some potential differences about means.

The notion that sugar is a "poison" was established when a

The medical theme of health news the past week was memes. That could be a force for good, but the particular stories in question very much suggest we're not there yet!

First things first: For those who don't know, a "meme" is a unit of cultural replication, analogous to a...

Brown fat is hot, figuratively and perhaps literally. It is the focus of two recent research papers, one in mice and one in men, and the marquee item in a recent New York Times article, along with other media attention. Brown fat...

As a preventive medicine physician who truly believes "if you don't have your health, you don't have anything," our prevailing behaviors have always been hard to fathom.

The parent who simply can't find time to cook a family dinner can, always, find time to take a...

I needn't belabor the news that Paula Deen, a celebrity chef on TV (that was news to me; nobody tells me anything...) "came out" with her Type 2 diabetes. Paula Deen's cooking has apparently long been a study in Southern-style indulgence, with an emphasis on the...

There was a feature article in a recent (Jan. 10, 2012) USA Today, generally very complimentary of a nutrition guidance system I helped develop, now helping some 20 million or more shoppers each week in some 1,600 supermarkets from coast to coast. But I'm not here...

As you likely know, U.S. News and World Report released a list of "best diets" to coincide with the annual bumper crop of weight loss resolutions as the new year begins. I was privileged to be one of the 22 judges.

We worked in isolation of...

I watched this year's Sugar Bowl with particular interest, given my daughter's graduation from the University of Michigan last year. So, I was happy with the outcome. Regarding the wild and wooly play, I can say only: Thank goodness there were referees! And that is the real point...

The lead article in the NY Times Magazine on Jan. 1, 2012, no doubt timed to coincide with the annual bumper crop of weight loss resolutions, is a poignant and personal essay by Tara Parker-Pope suggesting that we are, in essence, at war with our bodies over weight...

Democracy, it has been said, is the worst form of government except for every other form. As the long season of our political discontent drags on, the liabilities of consensus-based governance are on prominent display, salient among them a perennial lack of consensus. The situation seems unlikely to...

Among the big medical news stories of the past week is an increasingly global tale of failing French breast implants. According to Reuters, as many as 400,000 women in multiple countries are potential victims of defective implants, prone to leakage and made using a grade of silicone never...

This is an aspirational time of year. Peace on earth, good will toward man (and woman). Tidings of comfort and joy.

That we aspire annually to the goals of peace, understanding and a generosity of spirit says something about how well we did achieving them in years prior! Perhaps by...

I trust you know what "they" say about opinions: everybody has one. Just like everybody has a... well, you know what they say.

But when it comes to policies with the potential to impact the health of the population, we should generally aim to do better than opinion. Invariably, I...

On Dec. 1, the NY Times published a tale rather disturbing to those of us who count dogs not only among "man's" best friends, but our very own. The Times reported on the fairly high, and rising, incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder in service dogs deployed with the...

Medicare recently announced new regulations that authorize reimbursement for obesity management counseling by physicians. That's good, assuming the counseling is good. We are a long way from being able to count on that, however.

With a nod to my many colleagues who are genuinely expert in weight management...

It is at best ironic that America duped its families about food just as Americans gathered for the quintessential celebration of family and food. Congress just gave us all permission to serve our children pizza as a vegetable. I have a response in mind that suits the season....

How, exactly, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem came to involve at least one (flying, no less) ungulate with a photoluminescent proboscis, abominable snowmen, a Christmas elf yearning to be a dentist, not to mention more than one lobster... is a bit hard to fathom. But...

Today, The Huffington Post is launching the new platform for its Healthy Living content. That may be fodder for celebration here at HuffPost, but it begs a question: Why is healthy living something that requires such voluminous and on-going information exchange? Why is healthy living something that warrants probing and...