Is It Heartburn or a Heart Condition? An Expert Explains

You've loaded up on goodies while at a family gathering, and you suddenly feel chest pains. Is it heartburn or something worse?

Being able to tell the difference between indigestion and cardiovascular trouble might save your life, said Dr. Maya Balakrishnan, an associate professor of gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicin...

Bloated After That Holiday Meal? What's Normal, What's Not

As the holidays approach, most folks are familiar with a common side effect of the overindulgence that can come with all those meals with family and friends: Bloating.

Luckily, Baylor College of Medicine gastroenterologist Dr. David Szafron has some tips on what triggers bloating, what kinds of foods are big triggers for it and when you ne...

Get Off the Couch: Another Study Shows Sitting's Health Dangers

Time spent sitting, reclining or lying down during the day could increase a person’s risk of heart disease and death, a new study warns.

More than 10 and a half hours of sedentary behavior is significantly linked with future heart failure and heart-related death, even among people who are getting the recommended amount of exercise, r...

Falling Vaccination Rates Brings Spikes in Measles Worldwide

Waning vaccine coverage has fueled a 20% spike in measles cases worldwide, with 10.3 million people struck by the preventable illness in 2023, health officials reported Wednesday.

"Inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge in cases," of what was once a common childhood disease, the World Health Organization and the U.S...

Nearly 260 Million Americans Could Be Overweight or Obese by 2050

Four out of five men and women in the United States will be overweight or obese by 2050 if current trends hold, a new study warns.

About 213 million Americans aged 25 and older will be carrying around excess weight within 25 years, along with more than 45 million children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 24, researchers reported ...

Dating Apps Linked to More Hookups That Risk College Students' Health

College students who use dating apps are more likely to engage in risky sex, endangering their health, a new study shows.

Those using a dating app were 2.2 times to have had more than one sexual partner over the past year, and 1.4 times more likely to have had sex while under the influence of alcohol, researchers found.

Dating app us...

Over 40? Get Fitter and Live 5 Extra Years

If you're over 40 and raise your levels of exercise to that of the top 25% of your peers, you might gain an average of five more years of life, a new study calculates.

For over-40 folks in the lowest level of daily activity, a similar move could bring an average 11 extra years, the same report found.

The study results surprised even ...

Can AI Boost Accuracy of Doctors' Diagnoses?

AI can’t yet help doctors improve their ability to diagnose complex conditions, a sobering new study has found.

Doctors had about the same diagnostic accuracy whether or not they were using ChatGPT Plus, according to results published recently in the journal JAMA Network Open.

However, the AI outperformed doctors when ...

More Evidence That GLP-1 Meds Curb Alcohol Abuse

There have been a slew of studies recently supporting the notion that the same mechanisms that help folks lose weight with Ozempic and its kin also work to curb problem drinking.

Now, a new study out of Britain adds to that growing pile of evidence.

“Our findings show that this type of diabetes medication shows promise in reduc...

Breathing Dirty Air Might Raise Eczema Risks

Cases of the autoimmune skin condition eczema appear to rise in areas most plagued by air pollution, new research shows.

Since data has long shown that rates of eczema -- clinically known as atopic dermatitis -- increase along with industrialization, dirty air might be a connecting link, according to the team from Yale University.

...

Chlamydia Vaccine Shows Early Promise in Mice

An experimental vaccine has shown promise in protecting against the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia, researchers report.

Lab mice given the vaccine were able to rapidly clear subsequent chlamydia infections, and were less likely to develop severe infections compared with unvaccinated mice, researchers reported Nov. 11 in the journal...

Stop Worrying So Much About Holiday Weight Gain, Experts Say

Florida resident Joshua Walker isn’t concerned his health will take a hit from all the cakes, pies, cookies and candy that will tempt him during holiday gatherings.

That’s because he’s armed with a solid diet and exercise routine that will allow for a little indulgence.

“If Grandma made an apple pie that I&rsq...

Trump Picks Vaccine Skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Lead Health & Human Services

In a move guaranteed to alarm many, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal opponent of vaccines and other tenets of mainstream health care, to head the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The department encompasses numerous key agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ...

ICYMI, Txt Abbreviations Cn Make U Seem Insincere, Study Finds

Using abbreviations while texting might save some typing time, but it won't make a good impression, a new study finds.

People who use texting abbreviations like IDK or GOAT are perceived as more insincere and are less likely to receive replies, researchers discovered.

“Our findings are especially relevant when we want to appear...

Malaria Developing Resistance to Drug That Saves Children's Lives

Over 600,000 people worldwide die from mosquito-borne malaria each year, with the majority of these deaths happening among children under 5.

Now, there's troubling news that the malaria parasite may be gaining resistance against artemisinin, the drug most often used to try and save these young lives.

“This is the first study fr...

E. Coli Illnesses Linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders Climb to 104

The number of Americans sickened in an E. coli outbreak tied to slivered onions used on McDonald's Quarter Pounders has now risen to 104, U.S. health officials reported Wednesday.

In an update posted on its website, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that 34 people have now been hospitalized, four have developed serious kidney pro...

New U.S. Overdose Death Numbers Show 'Sustained' Decline

After decades of battling the opioid epidemic, U.S. health officials reported Wednesday that overdose deaths have now declined for the second year in a row.

By how much did these deaths of despair drop? There were about 97,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to new provisional data from the U....

1 in 3 Surgery Patients Suffer Complications

More than a third of surgical patients develop complications as a result of their procedure, a new study shows.

About 38% of adult patients suffer an adverse event during or following their surgery, researchers reported Nov. 13 in the BMJ.

Nearly half of these complications result in serious, life-threatening or fatal harm, ...

More Than 800 Million People Worldwide Now Have Diabetes

Fourteen percent of the world's people -- more than 800 million -- now have diabetes, a doubling of the global rate for the blood sugar disease since 1990, new statistics show.

Type 2 diabetes, which makes up 95% of cases, is surging in poorer countries. However, across these resource-poor nations, only half of people get treated, said a t...

These Are the 3 Big Factors Driving Strokes

A trio of risk factors not only increase your risk of stroke, but they also raise the odds that such a stroke will be debilitating, a new study warns.

What are these three big dangers? Smoking, having high blood pressure and suffering from atrial fibrillation all significantly raise the risk of suffering a severe stroke, researchers report...