• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 26, 2010

MSN on Wednesday announced a partnership with Men's Health publisher Rodale to develop a new wellness destination focused on diet, fitness and nutrition.

Slated to launch this fall, the new site will specialize in "actionable" health and wellness tips, tools, and videos, according to Scott Moore, general manager of content and programming at MSN.

The content will be delivered via an interactive, multimedia experience from Rodale brands including Men's Health, Women's Health, Prevention, Runner's World and Bicycling.

Along with MSN lifestyle sites Glo.msn.com and Delish.com, the new partnership "will help extend our effort to the area of health and wellness, which is a core part of MSN's overall Lifestyle portfolio," said Moore.

The site will add to MSN's growing stable of properties, including celebrity news and gossip site Wonderwall, the food-focused Delish, and the recently launched video game "channel" Game On.

Along with rivals AOL and Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN has spent the past two years making its case as a digital content leader.

Over a year in the making, MSN officially debuted its refurbished home page in March, which placed the focus on Bing-powered search, local content, in-line video, and the social networks that are consuming an ever-greater share of consumers' digital lives.

Significantly, MSN also recently launched a new MSN Local Edition, which now exists as a stand-alone Web site, but still features prominently on the relaunched MSN home page.

The new home page also includes a TrendWatch feature to highlight "top movers" on Twitter; increased editorial programming of search-related content, including videos and images; and a greater focus on "Popular Searches," which a dedicated editorial team uses to highlight interesting and topical material.