Health Beauty and Disease Information

A groundbreaking prescription for health care reform–from a legendary leader in innovation . . .

Our health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford it, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can promise it for future generations.

We need a cure, and we need it now.

Harvard Business School’s Clayton M. Christensen—whose bestselling The Innovator’s Dilemma revolutionized the business world—presents The Innovator’s Prescription, a comprehensive analysis of the strategies that will improve health care and make it affordable. (more…)

Amazon.com Review
Two colleagues of the late Dr. Robert Atkins take on the obesity epidemic’s deadly twin: type 2 diabetes. Dr. Mary Vernon and Jacqueline Eberstein, RN, adapt the carb-cutting, fat-allowing Atkins nutritional approach as a preemptive strike against this fast-growing killer. Diabetes–defined here as a condition in which glucose or blood sugar is above the normal range–is viewed as a preventable problem. “What we hope we have created in this book is a realistic and practical guide to wiping out type 2, one person at a time.” Since obesity is the major risk factor for diabetes, they begin with the “fat lie” (i.e., the belief that fat causes obesity) to voice the Atkins mantra: low fat means high carbs and high carbs are broken down into sugar. With a convincing mix of essay/picture testimonials, clinical studies, quizzes, checklists, and menu planners and recipes, Vernon and Eberstein make (more…)

The most important thing to know about the avian flu pandemic is that it probably ain’t coming, argues this brisk debunking of the latest medical scare story. Siegel, an associate professor at the NYU School of Medicine (False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear), cites evidence that the death rate from avian flu could be much lower than the reported estimate of 50% and it will probably not mutate to be readily transmissible between humans. And unlike the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, Siegel contends, a new bird flu pandemic would face effective public health measures and medical treatments. Revisiting the West Nile virus, anthrax, SARS and bioterrorism panics, Siegel sees bird flu as the latest “bug du jour” hyped by government and media alarmism. Meanwhile, he complains, attention is diverted from far more deadly diseases like AIDS, malaria and regular flu. In his own lapse into medical panic, he insists that stress induced by medical panics is itself a serious medical problem. Siegel accessibly presents the facts about avian flu, together with colorful anecdotes about his own panic-stricken patients whom he advises to simply eat right and exercise. Siegel’s exemplary bedside manner makes this dose of common sense go down easy. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, February 27, 2006) (more…)