US
Pharm. 2006;1:6.
The advent of the new year is
the time many people reflect on and commit to improving their lives. With the
vast amount of health information available on the Internet, pharmacists can
point patients to reliable Web resources they can use in accomplishing their
health goals.
Weight loss is one of the most
common New Year's resolutions. An interactive individualized menu planner
useful in planning daily intake can be found at
hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/menuplanner/menu.cgi. The American Heart Association offers
a page (www.justmove.org/home.cfm) for tracking exercise. Pharmacists may
already be familiar with the abundance of diabetes information and weight
management tools on the American Diabetes Association site, www.diabetes.org.
We Can! (Ways to Enhance
Children's Activity & Nutrition) is a resource for parents and caregivers
interested in practical tools to help children 8–13 years old stay at a
healthy weight (www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan). Tips and
fun activities focus on three critical behaviors: improved food choices,
increased physical activity, and reduced screen time. The program is a
collaboration of four NIH arms: the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National
Cancer Institute.
The University of Michigan
Health System's Center for Integrative Medicine features a "Healing Foods
Pyramid" (www.med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid) and includes such
information as how much dark chocolate is beneficial (and for whom). At
www.allholisticmed.com, for example, people can learn more about acupuncture,
acupressure, herbal medicine, food therapy, Tui Na (Chinese medical massage),
and Feng Shui from Dr. Kwong's Center for Integrated Medicine. The NIH Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicince (CAM) (http://nccam.nih.gov)
explores CAM practices in the context of rigorous science.
Smoking cessation Web sites
include www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco, which contains consumer materials in
English and Spanish, as well as information for health care professionals; the
Foundation for a Smoke-Free America (www.anti-smoking.org), which includes a
link to its site for youth (www.notobacco.org); QuitNet (www.quitnet.com), the
Web's original quit smoking site, which operates in association with
Boston University School of Public Health; and Pennsylvania's
www.lvhhn.org/being_healthy/quitnow.
Female health sites include
www.womenshealth.gov and www.girlshealth.gov.
The articles in this issue
highlight the counseling role of the pharmacist. Boost your value in the
community by educating your patients. To help you better serve your patients,
Tip of the Month appears on page 82.
Laura La Piana Simonsen
Executive Managing Editor
To comment on this article, contact [email protected].
