Dr. David Katz- Preventive Medicine: The politics of prevention

“Those of you who read this column routinely can reliably predict my vote, so no need for me to say what it will be. There are reasons, however, directly related to my purview here — preventive medicine — to say why it will be what it will be.

Prevention covers a broad clinical expanse, encompassing disease treatment as well as primary prevention, the work of keeping disease at bay. It also extends to health promotion, those efforts directed at helping people become and remain healthy in the first place.

Success across this expanse depends on two systems, only one of which is even close to fully functional in our culture. Those two systems are disease care and health care. The election has obvious and profound implications for both.”

Source: Dr. David Katz, Preventive Medicine: The politics of prevention

Dr. David Katz: Preventive Medicine: Dietitians and the power of unity

“While there is plenty of room for variation among the prioritized particulars any one of us might favor, the basic theme of eating well for longevity, vitality, and the sake of the planet is simply not negotiable. Experts know that, and can both help the public know it, and distinguish expertise from impersonations of it- by reaffirming it every chance we get.

I meet very few, if any, dietitians who don’t agree with the proposition that diets and health would improve (in the U.S. and other developed countries) with more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds and water in the place of almost any other beverage almost all the time. Over the years, however, I have met many who tended to talk much more about some narrowly bounded, personal priority — than the expanse of common ground we share.”

Source: Dr. David Katz: Preventive Medicine: Dietitians and the power of unity