Postmedia launches healthing.ca, a one-stop health news website

TORONTO The plight of more than a quarter of Canadians who struggle with obesity and their $7-billion burden on the medical system is the lead article on Postmedia’s newest website, healthing.ca.

The investigation by Vanessa Hrvatin is just one of a flurry of articles that will help readers — consumers, caregivers and practitioners — with a one-stop shop for health news, trends and innovations in the industry.

The website’s writers will tap information and resources from health-care institutions, patient groups, industry researchers and clinicians, according to Postmedia, which runs a stable of newspapers across the country, including Financial Post, The National Post and The Sun tabloid chain.

One feature that may of interest to almost everyone is being able to look up diseases and conditions using a search function on the site stocked from a database run by Atlanta-based Ebix Inc., a global provider of health, insurance and financial information.

Visitors can find in-depth education on diseases and symptoms as the website endeavours to disseminate health-related information to concerned Canadians while updating features and functions as needed, Postmedia said.

Another feature is a series of articles under The Right Chemistry moniker by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society, looking at the value of eating dates, insects and Keto diets, among other topics.

Also look for a sliding bar with “Everything you need to know” links on diabetes, cancer, liver disease and heart disease.

Healthcare topics are some of the best-read material in all our markets.

Partners involved in the site include the Canadian unit of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk A/S and Massachusetts-based insulin maker Insulet Corp., the news outlet said.

In an economics sense, interest in health care is like food — it’s an inelastic demand that everyone shares.

It’s why health care stocks are called defensive — there’s almost always a market for them.

That goes for health news, too. “Healthcare issues that touch the lives of every single Canadian and healthcare topics are some of the best-read material in all our markets,” Lucinda Chodan, Postmedia’s senior vice-president of content, said in the statement. Financial Post