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The overall economy added 243,000 jobs last month — with the health-care sector continuing to show strength — while the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.

As the WSJ reports, that’s the lowest the jobless rate has been since Feb. 2009. (Here’s the full report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Tobacco, alcohol … and sugar?

A new commentary published in Nature argues that just as the first two substances are regulated in various ways by government authorities, so should be sugar. While acknowledging that food, unlike alcohol and tobacco, is required for survival, the authors say taxes, zoning ordinances and even age limits for purchasing certain sugar-laden products are all appropriate remedies for what they see as a not-so-sweet problem.

The controversy over the defunding of Planned Parenthood affiliates by breast-cancer group Susan G. Komen for the Cure is showing no signs of cooling off.

As we all gather ’round the Super Bowl snack spread this Sunday, how worried should we be about the health consequences of the party foul known as double dipping?

We tackled that question as part of our “Is It True?” video series here at the Health Blog — you can see the video below.

Here at Health Blog headquarters, we’ve been intrigued by the career of John Johnson ever since he left a company called Johnson & Johnson.

That was back in 2007, when he became CEO of ImClone Systems, which was eventually acquired by Eli Lilly.

Today, Johnson, who is 53, was named president, chief executive and chairman-elect of Dendreon, succeeding 43-year-old Mitch Gold, who remains executive chairman until June 30. Gold has been CEO for nearly a decade. (Here’s the WSJ story.)

The simple act of putting photos of green beans and carrots in cafeteria-tray compartments sparked increased consumption among elementary-school students, according to a small study that suggests one more potential avenue for getting kids to eat their veggies.

Two new services make it simple to see exactly how prescription drugs interact with each other, Melinda Beck reports on Lunch Break. Photo: AP.

Go here to see the original: Is Your Prescription Making You Sick?/a>

Quality-of-life questions are becoming increasingly important in medical care, especially when it comes to helping patients make decisions about treatments, today’s Informed Patient column reports.

Since the 1970s, researchers have been using quality-of-life measurement tools for a wide variety of medical conditions, primarily in population studies and clinical trials. Outside the U.S. they are often used by national medical systems to help determine payment policies for more costly drugs or treatments.

What’s standing in the way of the wider spread of health IT?

Plenty of things, according to a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report says boosting use of electronic medical records and other health IT “enjoys bipartisan support.” It’s also being pushed by billions of dollars in government incentives.

The American Society of Hematology says it doesn’t think student athletes should have to be screened for sickle-cell trait in order to play their sport. Instead, the group says in a policy statement, schools should take steps to protect all athletes from exertion-related illness and death.