A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health has caught my eye and my imagination regarding it’s potential for helping with weight management. The researchers, led by Sara N. Bleich at, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and their Department of Epidemiology did some very innovative research. The researchers […]

Don’t you just love it when all it takes is one easy step, one easy change and you’ve solved a problem?  I do.  I know with many public health problems, that’s exactly how they seemed to be solved. I realize that finding out about just adding a vitamin, mineral or developing a vaccine or medication […]

I love surprises; no on second thought I only love pleasant surprises. Having said that, I must share a recent very pleasant one. I’d have to say it was almost a pleasant shock. I received my master’s degree in public health in 1985; so it’s been almost 30 years of the joys (and sorrows) of […]

On November 13, 2013, Ben Hirschler for Reuters in London reported that the battle with diabetes and its disabling, life-threatening complications is being lost. This article notes that the number of people affected has “soared to a new record” this year, the majority of cases being type 2 diabetes – “the kind linked to obesity […]

This particular evening is symbolic for many of the opportunity to make positive changes in lifestyle habits for a healthier new year. It helps many to draw a line in the sand; the demarcation between the past and a new start. Two articles that may be of benefit for new beginnings thinking are: New Directions […]

If you’re like millions of Americans, you’re starting off the New Year with some extra pounds. For some, they’re the same pounds as last year, only with some additional ones, perhaps, to keep company with last year’s pounds. Rather than getting tied up in a sad story of how it happened, I wonder if any […]

Public heath in this country has been likened to two freight trains headed directly at each other. One is loaded with epidemic cases of obesity, diabetes, and other preventable chronic diseases.  The other is freighting the rising costs of medical care and lost productivity because of the illnesses. This is the metaphor used by Reed […]

Two separate studies published recently are concluding that the more someone sits the shorter and less robust his or her life may be. The first study that I want to look at was published in full and abstract in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. In essence, the researchers claim that TV viewing time may […]

Mary Ireland discusses new research supporting healthy lifestyle choices.

It seems as I get older, more and more of my friends and acquaintances are of the type Dr. Grandma described in her blog post Worrywarts and Fretters. Maybe it is just normal that as we get older, worries about health and losing cognitive ability comes more to the forefront of our thoughts; but sometimes […]