An article just published in the New England Journal of Medicine claims that a Mediterranean diet is much more effective than a "low-fat diet" in preventing cardiovascular disease. A careful reading of the study reveals that this is simply not true.

Here's why:

• The comparison (control) group did...

Although many people believe that the primary emphasis of my work is about diet, it's not. What we eat is important, of course, but what comes out of our mouth may be more important than what goes into it.

Intimacy is healing. Study after study have shown that people...

This post is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics. Check out the Shadow Conventions big news page here, and join the...

Last week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force finalized a blanket recommendation that all routine prostate specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer be stopped in this country. The new guideline won swift praise in some quarters and strong condemnation in others -- leaving men and those who...

I'm delighted that The Huffington Post is launching a new Science Section today.

I've spent so much of the past 35 years conducting scientific research because I believe in the power of science. Albert Einstein once said, "Not everything that counts can be counted" -- not...

A recent large government study found that raising levels of HDL "good" cholesterol using a drug did not reduce the risk of heart disease.

As The New York Times reported:

Patients taking the medicine along with Zocor had higher levels of H.D.L. and...

Beginning today, The Huffington Post is launching a new section, HuffPost Health. It's a place for serious and interesting conversation and education around all aspects of personal health and well-being, including treatment, prevention and wellness.

As you know, there is no shortage of information on the...

The Internet has transformed many parts of our daily lives, touching everything from how we find information to how we go shopping, get directions, and even stay in touch with friends and family. In the last few years it's gone further and started impacting one of the areas that is...

A major study was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine from Harvard. In approximately 85,000 women who were followed for 26 years and 45,000 men who were followed for 20 years, researchers found that all-cause mortality rates were increased in both men and women who were...

"Listen, here's what I think. I think we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do. By what we deny ourselves. What we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."

In writing about the top 10 medical events of the decade, I first began writing about the latest high-tech breakthroughs in genomics, stem cell research, angiogenesis, and so on.

In addition, some of the biggest medical and health events of the past decade were studies documenting the limitations of...

Nowhere is the power of the Internet for improving people's lives more evident than in health care. Having the latest health information literally at their fingertips has enabled people to make more appropriate choices, learn about the effects and side-effects of medications they are taking, hear from peers about their...

Recently, I found myself in the middle of a contentious debate on Larry King Live sandwiched between President Obama's longtime personal physician, Dr. David Scheiner, and Dr. Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican member of Congress from Texas.

Dr. Scheiner described his disappointment with President Obama for not supporting...

Health reform is in danger of failing because the focus has been too much on who is covered and not enough on what is covered. Health care reform is primarily about health insurance reform, with the main battle being over coverage and the payment system.

Of course, we need...

Health reform is in danger of failing because the focus has been too much on who is covered and not enough on what is covered. Health care reform is primarily about health insurance reform, with the main battle being over coverage and the payment system.

Of course, we need...

Recently, The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a study comparing the effects of different diets on weight loss. Their conclusion? It doesn't matter what you eat, only how much you eat. So, pick a diet you can stick with, as that's all that really matters.

It's...

Dr. Ralph Snyderman is Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University and chair of the Institute of Medicine's "Summit on Integrative Medicine" at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. The Summit s a 2-1/2 day historic event in which some of the most thoughtful and important thinkers are coming together...

Recently, Sen. Tom Harkin was asked to lead a working group given the task of crafting the prevention and public-health components of President-elect Obama's health-care-reform bill. As chairman of the subcommittee on appropriations and health, he's in a position to have a pivotal role in tackling the immense challenges the...

What really works to make sustainable changes in diet and lifestyle? It's probably not what you think. In over 30 years of conducting clinical research, I've learned that the real keys are pleasure, joy and freedom, not willpower, deprivation and austerity. Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is...

"Having a heart attack was the best thing that ever happened to me," a patient once told me many years ago.

"How so?" I wondered.

"Well, that's what it took to get my attention--to begin making major changes in my life that have made me so much healthier...