As follow-up to this morning’s post on a grocery chain’s nutritional rating system, I thought I’d point out two healthcare startups worth keeping tabs on and, incidentally, applauding.

DailyStrength, which offers a health-focused social network, just received a glowing review on TechCrunch. I’ve long thought that this market was ripe for “entrepreneurial picking” given the great lengths that health sufferers will go to in order to connect with others suffering from similar conditions (Yahoo! groups, forums, etc) and the lack of any company addressing such a need in a comprehensive, polished way. MyCancerPlace comes to mind as a niche provider and valuable service with so-so delivery.

DailyStrength offers users both valuable information (e.g. users rate the efficacy of various treatment regimens) and a mental support network (hence the name) all within the confines of a well designed site. As for revenue, it appears to be advertising based. According to TechCrunch the founder is still “on the fence about big pharma” but given the CPMs I’ve seen pharmaceutical manufacturers paying, there’s going to be significant temptation to take those dollars. I’d encourage the company to look into e-commerce tie-ins as well. Traffic, I expect, will quickly take off.

Revolution Foods is a provider of “healthy food, nutrition education, and operational support for schools in California.” Opposed to the virtuous virtual work of DailyStrength, RevFoods (their URL) is tackling healthcare “on the street” by providing health-promoting food and information to children in schools. The company recently received venture funding from JPMorgan’s Bay Area Equity Fund (as reported in early September). Clearly, it’s a less scalable business than DailyStrength but such high-touch healthcare “rangers” are a necessary component in the system’s growing (though still nascent) shift towards preventative care.