I had my first colonoscopy when I turned 50. It wasn’t fun, but I did what I was told and I believed the common line that it was something I needed to endure. The prep was unpleasant, but I kept good reading material with me all day for those frequent trips to the bathroom. The

At 15, Autumn Fuernisen is dying. She was diagnosed at age 11 with a rare degenerative brain disorder that has no known cure or way to slow it down: juvenile-onset Huntington’s disease. “There’s lots of things that she used to be able to do just fine,” said her mom, Londen Tabor, who lives with her

After years of investigation about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, I wrote a book, “Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, NutraSweet, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” and published it in 2006. Since then, I’ve been warning the world about the ever-growing evidence that artificial sweeteners can damage your health in many ways. Now,

Doctors are seeing a surge in eating disorders across the country as people try to cope with the stress and anxiety induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennifer Wildes, an associate psychiatry professor and director of outpatient eating disorders program at the University of Chicago Medicine, says she’s “absolutely seeing massive increases.” Patients are waiting 4

As physicians and health policy experts debate the merits of Aduhelm, the first new drug approved for Alzheimer’s disease in 18 years, patients want to know: “Will this medication help me—and how much?” Doctors explaining the pros and cons of Aduhelm won’t have a definitive answer. “On an individual basis, it will be absolutely impossible

A colonoscopy might cost you or your insurer a few hundred dollars—or several thousand, depending on which hospital or insurer you use. Long hidden, such price variations are supposed to be available in stark black and white under a Trump administration price transparency rule that took effect at the start of this year. It requires

Cosmetics and personal care products have often tested positive for toxic chemicals. Now, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Notre Dame has found that more than half of common U.S. cosmetics tested contain high levels of industrial compounds associated with various health conditions, including cancer. One chemical found in an “alarming”

Beth Palmer was 17 and dreaming of becoming a singer in March 2020 when the United Kingdom went into lockdown because of COVID-19. One month later, she was dead. “She was a wonderful, wonderful daughter. She was just funny, she lit up the room,” said Mike Palmer, Beth’s father. “She was so affectionate and loving

Dr. Kingsley R. Chin was little more than a decade out of Harvard Medical School when the sales of his spine surgical implants took off. Chin has patented more than 40 pieces of such hardware, including doughnut-shaped plastic cages, titanium screws, and other products used to repair spines—generating $100 million for his company, SpineFrontier, according

“Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health challenges of our time,” declares the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And while antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) took a backseat to the COVID-19 pandemic, the problem hasn’t gone away. Antibiotic resistance (AR) refers to bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance is a broader term

Does wearing a cloth or paper face mask protect you from a virus? Is the PCR test a reliable method for identifying an infection? Do lockdowns help slow the spread? Are there any safe medicines that have successfully treated or prevented COVID-19? Ask these questions to a random selection of people and you’ll probably get

Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a historically Western occurrence. Although mainly a problem in the United States, as the standard American diet has gone global, IBD has become more common across the globe. All that fast food, fat, and sugar could be promoting the proliferation of IBD. A recent study has found that eating

New research is revealing surprising things about the virus that causes COVID-19 and how humans react to it, including a study that finds the antibodies we develop after infection may last much longer than new reports led us to previously believe. In one recent study published in Circulation Research, researchers discovered that the spike protein

In the 20th century, scientists developed a group of complex, manmade chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In the past decade, researchers have found these chemicals contaminating drinking water and the environment. Current research measures them at alarming rates in breast milk. The properties of these substances include oil and water repellency, temperature resistance,

Ronald Lundquist, 87, has been active all his life. So, he wasn’t prepared for what happened when he stopped going out during the COVID-19 pandemic and spent most of his time, inactive, at home. “I found it hard to get up and get out of bed,” said Lundquist, who lives with his wife of 67