Tag Archives: public health

Hookup or Hookah?

Posted on June 2, 2015

I have two teenage boys. So of course I’m worried about them skipping the dating scene and engaging in “hookups.” That seems to be what kids do these days. But now, do I also have to worry about them engaging … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged

The Harms of Believing in Exercise

Posted on April 27, 2015

Can beliefs make you fat? The answer to this question might seem pretty obvious. If I believe that the best way to lose weight is to super-size five meals a day at McDonald’s, while consuming bags of Doritos to tide … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being | Tagged ,

Cigarette Smoking Is So 1970!

Posted on April 24, 2015

I have two reasons for showing you this picture, illustrating the decline in cigarette sales in Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland and the US over the past few decades. First, to show you the decline in cigarette sales in Germany, France, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged

Calling Obesity A Disease Dooms Dieters

Posted on March 27, 2015

In June of 2013, the American Medical Association officially recognized obesity as a disease. The organization had its reasons. For starters, obesity leads to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, early-onset degenerative arthritis…and just about every other illness on the planet. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being, Health Policy | Tagged ,

Do You Know How Many Calories Are in Your Burrito?

Posted on April 25, 2014

Here’s a new study I conducted with Peggy Liu, Jim Bettman, and Arianna Uhalde on calorie range information. Check it out below. Liu, Peggy J., James R. Bettman, Arianna R. Uhalde, and Peter A. Ubel (forthcoming), “How Many Calories Are … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioral Economics and Public Policy | Tagged , ,

When Physicians Pay Attentions to Costs, They Promote Public Health!

Posted on April 4, 2014

This week, my good friend Reshma Jagsi and I published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which we explain why physicians are doing their job, as physicians, when they pay attention to healthcare costs. Here is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Health Policy | Tagged ,

Should Our Government Combat the Obesity Epidemic?

Posted on April 17, 2013

Here is video from a talk I recently gave at the University of Wisconsin, laying out a few of the reasons I think the government needs to play a role in combating the obesity epidemic. If you dig further into … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being, Health Policy | Tagged , ,

Why James Bond Needs to Wear Condoms

Posted on March 14, 2013

Think of the last few times you watched a popular movie that involved any kind of sex scene? Not as in pornographic sex, but as in two characters ended up in bed together and had, ahem, conjugal relations. In how … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being | Tagged , , ,

I Will Gladly Pay More Taxes to Expand High Schools Sports

Posted on January 31, 2013

My 14-year-old son Jordan did not make the JV basketball team in his high school.  Not very surprising really.  There is no freshmen basketball team at his school and only six freshmen made the JV, out of a class of more … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being | Tagged ,

When Americans Rejected Small Pox Vaccines

Posted on September 6, 2012

When I lived in Ann Arbor, my children attended a public school where upwards of 15% of kids were not vaccinated for mumps because their left-wing parents didn’t trust the vaccine industry. Meanwhile on the right end of the political … Continue reading →

Posted in Health Policy | Tagged ,