Getting to health doesn't need to be all that complicated. And it also doesn't need to be about "should." Don't pursue health because it's an obligation, or because someone says you should. Pursue health because health is a currency you can spend on living better.

With the help of a cameo appearance by a friend you are likely to know, a preventionist reflects on vulnerability -- and the opportunity to take arms against a sea of troubles imperiling our children, and by opposing -- end them!

Although more research is needed, there is no doubt that diet plays a role in cancer prevention. Without scientific support for which individual nutrients are most effective, people should adopt a whole-foods approach to ensure a balanced intake of protective phytonutrients.

I see personal genomics more generally evolving rapidly to become a major part of everyday life for Americans and around the globe. At the same time, potential problems associated with it will continue to emerge in parallel and merit serious evaluation.

"I am well" means much more than the absence of active disease. What the public -- and most doctors -- hasn't found out is that the cause of illness is becoming more and more murky.  

We need to stop the fear, denial and excuses that hold us back from doing our simple, timely self-checks and from practicing the prevention steps that will help save our lives and the lives of those we care about.

The predominant efforts of health promotion might reasonably be catalogued in terms of carrots, sticks, and leading people to water -- whether or not we can make them drink it. Which leads, naturally, to horses.

In my first piece on personal genomics, I wrote about how data on one's genome can provide information on one's disease risk. Such personal genomics studies estimate the probability of someone getting a disease.

A revolutionary biomedical phenomenon called "personal genomics" is poised to fundamentally change how you think about your health and your family history.

We need to reduce our emphasis on disease management and emphasize health promotion instead. How much more desirable -- and less expensive -- it would be to prevent diabetes and heart disease, rather than to have to treat those diseases and their myriad complications.

If just standing more and sitting less can add years to life and life to years, then we owe a lot of ill health to the seats of our pants. The solution is for us each to incorporate strategies into our daily routines that allow us to get up and move about -- at least a little, at least intermittently.

Our popular culture acts as if it would make sense to optimize one wing of a plane. The plane is either fit to fly -- or not. You can't fly half a plane. Selectively cultivating the health of favored organs or body parts is a comparable flight of fancy.

The dilemma for PSA screening and many other tests and treatments is that there's no science-based way to know whether holding back constitutes "rationing" for particular patients.

This week, I want to explore how sleep and fear are related. Their connection is direct and undeniable, as lack of the prior leads to an increase in the latter.

Why is it that America is still spending $2 trillion on health care, mostly treating people after they become sick? How can we shift money toward prevention, where each dollar can save us multiple dollars on treatment?

As a clinician who sees the basic science findings translate into clinical care, it is always exciting to learn more about cellular functioning on a molecular level, because it helps me explain information to my patients about how our body is full of checks and balances.