Although genetic factors play a role in determining why people get ill, it has been known for a long time that diet and lifestyle have enormous influence in preventing, or at least mitigating the onset of many degenerative illnesses such as coronary heart disease and obesity. If we are to prevent apparently healthy people from becoming ill in the future, a higher emphasis on health promotion is required, along with an effective means to get the right information into the right hands, before they get sick!.

Health literacy plays an important role in health promotion, particularly as it applies to issues of primary prevention. Consider the following excerpts from recent speeches[8] delivered by the Surgeon General:

• Instead of helping people learn how to stay healthy, we wait for people to get sick and then spend billions every year trying to make them healthy again.
• Low health literacy is one of the largest contributors to our nation’s epidemic of overweight and obesity, which is the fastest-growing cause of disease and death in America today.  In fact, it has reached epidemic proportions.
• Minorities are faring worse than the overall population.

There are many simple, preventive measures many Americans can take to reduce poor health outcomes. However, providing convenient, credible, reliable access to user-friendly health information in time to promote healthier lifestyles is a great way help people change their lives instantly, and PHIERS is the key!

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