Fasting is a well-known hassle associated with surgery. Patients are required to go without food or liquid for hours because of fears they’ll vomit while under anesthesia, potentially causing pneumonia if stomach contents are inhaled. But this long-standing practice might not be necessary, a new evidence review says. There’s no medical evidence to suggest that… read on > read on >
Many kids are spending a lot of unnecessary time under observation in a hospital following a sudden allergic emergency, a new study concludes. About 17% of kids are admitted for overnight observation following a scary allergic reaction to food, medicine or insect bites, researchers reported. But 95% of children treated for allergic reactions can be… read on > read on >
Noshing on veggies, grains, beans and other high-fiber foods can help your heart as well as your gut health, a new study says. People with low-fiber diets are more likely to have narrowed arteries caused by the buildup of plaque, researchers reported recently in the journal Cardiovascular Research. CT scans also revealed that people’s diets… read on > read on >
A person’s body fat percentage provides a better estimate of their risk for early death than their body mass index (BMI), a new study says. People with a high body-fat percentage were 78% more likely to die within 15 years from any cause and 3.6 times more likely to die from heart disease, researchers reported… read on > read on >
Thursday, June 26, 2025The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been soberly and deliberately helping set U.S. vaccination policy for more than 60 years. During that time, its members have been thoroughly vetted through a grueling nomination process, before they take up the work of protecting the nation against infectious diseases. All that… read on > read on >
A presentation scheduled for a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine meeting today claimed that a vaccine preservative could cause long-term brain effects — but the study it cited doesn’t appear to exist. The slide, posted online Tuesday, cited a 2008 paper titled “Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain,”… read on > read on >
Illinois has confirmed its first human case of West Nile virus this year, health officials say. The person, who lives in southern Illinois, was hospitalized with complications from the mosquito-borne virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the earliest West Nile virus case reported in Illinois since 2016.… read on > read on >
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped canceling biomedical research grants after a federal judge said hundreds of those cuts were illegal. This decision comes just days after U.S. District Judge William Young ordered the NIH to restore more than 900 canceled grants. The ruling stemmed from a Boston case, in which researchers and… read on > read on >
Kids watching YouTube videos are being hammered with messages promoting junk food like candy, sugary drinks, fast food and sweet or salty snacks, a new study says. About 75% of 6- to 8-year-olds and 36% of 3- to 5-year-olds were fed promotions for junk food while watching YouTube or YouTube Kids videos they chose on… read on > read on >
Violence, addiction and abuse can keep children a step behind other kids when it comes to their education, a new study says. Children who’ve experienced only a single traumatic event are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent from school due to health problems, researchers reported in the journal Academic Pediatrics. And the… read on > read on >
