Category: Features

One of the longest-running feuds in modern nutrition science revolves around a simple question: Will reducing salt intake save lives? Continue reading

If a baker’s dozen of nutrition experts has its way, Americans will soon be eating more foods that deliver healthful nutrients and fewer foods chock full of empty calories and salt, exercising more, and maintaining healthy weights. Even nutrition experts can dream, can’t they? The final report of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was […] Continue reading

It may come as a surprise to many people that the comprehensive national health care reform bill signed into law in March contains a substantial piece on prevention and public health, including incentives to prevent chronic disease. The senior leader responsible for that section, Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa, is a long-time health and wellness […] Continue reading

When rushing through the supermarket, who has time to pore over Nutrition Facts labels and compare ingredient lists? That’s why more than a dozen rating systems have been established to help shoppers identify healthful products. (1) Some, like the Guiding Stars program in Hannaford supermarkets, put rating information on food shelf tags below various products. […] Continue reading

Adding a penny per ounce tax to sugar-sweetened beverages could slow the growth of obesity in the U.S.—and could raise billions of dollars for obesity prevention and other health programs, according to a new analysis by seven public health experts in The New England Journal of Medicine.(1) Continue reading

A Closer Look at Obesity, Health Risks, and Mortality   Writing in the November 7, 2007, Journal of the American Medical Association, federal researchers concluded that being overweight isn’t associated with the chances of dying from heart disease or cancer. (1) Even more surprisingly, they found that overweight may be associated with lower risks of […] Continue reading

The New York City Board of Health’s decision to ban trans fats from restaurants may prevent thousands of premature deaths, and it serves as a model for other cities around the world, according to a leading authority on trans fats’ harmful health effects. “The New York City Board of Health deserves applause for its decision […] Continue reading

Testimony submitted at October 30, 2006 hearing before the New York City Board of Health by Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., F.A.C.C.. F.A.H.A., Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health I am a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School and an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. I would like to thank the […] Continue reading

Testimony submitted at October 30, 2006 hearing before the New York City Board of Health by Walter Willett, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. P.H., Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health First, I want to thank the New York City Department of Health for providing this opportunity to comment on the proposed restriction of […] Continue reading