HEALTH

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Emergency room visits have been -- and continue to be -- on the rise, and if the recently passed healthcare reform is not coupled with an aggressive game plan to deliver healthcare services to the newly insured, the ER will continue to be the first place many seek care. One way to ease the pressure on overburdened ERs: Establish more retail-based clinics.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT More and more, the local food-drug supermarket-pharmacy combo is on the front line of the nation’s epic battle against the roaring diabetes epidemic. And given the natural alliance between pharmacy-based health-and-wellness programs on the one hand, and a well-conceived, nutritionally sound program in the food aisles for diabetics and other customers with special health concerns on the other, it’s a fitting place to wage such a fight.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Not eating enough fiber doesn’t kill you. But the disease states that result from a poor fiber diet do. Not a believer? Then you too may be a victim of IDS (irrational disbelief syndrome), the tongue-in-cheek faux condition that Fiber One touts as being the No. 1 cause behind America’s lack of fiber faith.