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In 1953, not long before President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in office, the social scientist Leland Allbaugh published “Crete: A Case Study of an Underdeveloped Area.” The landmark analysis of the eating patterns of an isolated Greek population strongly suggested that a calorie-limited diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and olive oil and low in animal protein, particularly red meat, could lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, decrease chronic disease and extend life. Medical research over the last half-century has largely borne out this initial finding. Weight-loss fads and eating trends come and go, but the so-called Mediterranean diet has stood fast. “Among all diets,” Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health concluded in an email, “the traditional Mediterranean diet is most strongly supported for delivering long term health and wellbeing.” (Paul Greenberg, 7/19)

Back in 2013, 67 percent of Miami-Dade adults were overweight or obese, and 13 percent of our teenagers were obese. In response, Miami-Dade worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce obesity through training childcare staff on nutrition, promoting safe streets and improving healthy meal options in public schools and childcare centers.cUnfortunately new research now suggests that more than half of children in the United States are projected to become obese by age 35, with another study reporting that 37 percent of Floridians are obese. In Miami-Dade, this does not have to be our children’s destiny. (Gabriela Aklepi and Justin Stole, 7/19)

In response to the opioid crisis, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken action on multiple fronts. We have approved better measures for treating opioid use disorder and preventing deaths from overdose, have launched efforts to inform more appropriate prescribing as a way to limit clinical exposure to opioids, have taken actions to reduce the excess opioids available for abuse, and are working to facilitate development of new therapeutics that can effectively and safely help patients suffering from pain. Going forward, the FDA needs to remain vigilant to recognize shifting trends in the addiction landscape. Taking a systematic approach to monitoring such trends should allow us to intervene promptly and appropriately and protect the public from associated risks. (Douglas C. Throckmorton, Scott Gottlieb and Janet Woodcock, 7/18)

We often prescribe new medications that were proven to be effective in rigorous clinical trials and were approved by the Food and Drug Administration only to find that our patients don’t get better. Amazon tells us every day which books would interest us, and Google can chart the fastest routes to our destinations, because these companies have mountains of data on which to base their predictions. We could provide better care for our patients if we had information that would allow us to target treatments to individual patients. But we don’t. Doctors and researchers need clinical trial data to make this happen — and that is hard to come by. (Akbar K. Waljee, Sameer D. Saini and Brahmajee Nallamothu, 7/20)

If there was ever an industry in dire need of increased efficiency, cost containment and improved outcomes, health care tops the list. Despite consuming 18 percent of our nation’s GDP—equal to $3.4 trillion in annual expenditures—it is responsible for nearly 250,000 deaths due to medical errors, poor record keeping and a dismal lack of shared data among doctors about patients in their care. From blockchain technology to surgical robots, medical experts worldwide agree that big data and artificial intelligence (AI) will play a key role in vastly improving health care quality and delivery. Aided by advances in sensor capabilities, computational power and algorithmic ingenuity, the pace of medical innovation is accelerating rapidly. (Noel H. Nevshehir, 7/19)

Despite clear guidelines and extensive educational campaigns aimed at reducing overprescribing of antibiotics, the problem remains. At least 30% of antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in the outpatient setting—80 million prescriptions per year in the United States—are given without an appropriate indication. (Michael A. Incze, Rita F. Redberg and Mitchell H. Katz, 7/16)

Since 1906, when Upton Sinclair rattled the country with “The Jungle” and argued for oversight of meat plants, the Agriculture Department has regulated and inspected meat products. Meat products bear a USDA seal that reads “inspected and passed” — and when it comes to “inspected,” USDA means business. In fact, U.S. meat and poultry plants and products are arguably the most regulated and inspected American consumer product. Sound like “spin?” It’s not. (Barry Carpenter, 7/19)

It’s been clear for some time that Governor Charlie Baker is skeptical of harm reduction centers, where people suffering from substance abuse disorders can inject themselves with illegal drugs under medical supervision, boosting their chance of survival in the case of overdose. But with his misguided rejection of a new proposal by a state Senate committee, which would establish a supervised injection site pilot in Massachusetts, Baker is stepping beyond mere opposition. (7/20)