We all know that smoking is bad for us, but a new report from the U.S. Surgeon General concludes that even a single cigarette can cause immediate harm and raise the risk of diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Medicine
Straight As in High School May Mean Better Health Later in Life
Class rank is important for more than just wowing college admissions officers and securing bragging rights. According to new research, the better your grades were in high school, the healthier you are years later.
Take the Dr. Oz/TIME Poll: How Healthy Are You?
TIME magazine has partnered with Dr. Oz to find out more about America’s health habits. The results of our poll will be featured on a special episode of The Dr. Oz Show, airing on Jan. 4, 2011. Click here to take the poll …
Study: Could Cell-Phone Use in Pregnancy Affect Kids’ Behavior?
Children exposed to cell phones before and after birth were 50% more likely to have emotional or behavior problems by the age of 7, compared with kids who were not exposed to the phones, according to a new study of 28,745 children.
Study: Daily Aspirin Helps Reduce Cancer Deaths
Millions of middle-aged and elderly people already take a low-dose aspirin to lower their risk of heart attack or stroke. But could their daily preventive be staving off cancer too? New research published Dec. 7 in The Lancet …
Study: Restless Leg Syndrome During Pregnancy May Recur
Of all the conditions that appear during pregnancy — from gestational diabetes and acne to foot growth and intense cravings — transient restless leg syndrome (RLS) doesn’t get a lot of attention. But according to new research …
Are Doctors’ Exams a Barrier to Birth Control?
Physicians usually require an annual pelvic exam before prescribing oral birth control to women, but the two practices have no medical reason to be linked. Indeed, according to a consortium of health-care providers and …
New Guidelines Help Doctors Diagnose Food Allergy
According to the most recent surveys, the incidence of food allergies continues to climb, with anywhere from 1% to 10% of Americans unable to safely consume common foods such as milk, eggs or nuts. But how reliable are these figures?
Study: Acupuncture May Change the Way the Brain Perceives Pain
The idea of pricking your body with needles in order to relieve pain seems nothing if not counterintuitive, but thousands of acupuncture patients swear the treatments are effective in addressing pain of all kinds.
What’s the Ideal BMI for Longevity?
How fat is too fat? A large new government-funded study found that being even a bit overweight can increase your risk of death from heart disease, stroke or cancer.
Study: More Hope for a Brain Scan for Autism
A team of researchers from the University of Utah and Harvard have reported using a brain-imaging test that looks at connections within the brain in order to distinguish people with autism from those without.
Can Overuse of Antibacterial Soap Promote Allergies in Kids?
Clean is good, especially when it comes to fending off germs, but is there such a thing as being too clean? Perhaps. Researchers based at the University of Michigan School of Public Health report that children who overuse …
Patients Eligible for Weight-Loss Surgery May Double
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will consider a request by Allergan — the company that manufactures the Lap-Band device used in the majority of gastric banding surgeries in the U.S. — to lower the bar for …