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 and Prevention,…  read on >  read on >

Periodontal (gum) disease and diabetes are locked in a grim partnership aimed at undermining your health, experts warn. “Recent research has shown that diabetes is not only a major risk factor for periodontitis but that the relationship between the two conditions is bidirectional, meaning they both influence and exacerbate one another,” said Dr. Anton Sculean, chair…  read on >  read on >

Bottoms up: The type of alcohol you prefer may say something about your lifestyle, new research reveals. Beer drinkers are more likely to have an unhealthy lifestyle than folks who prefer wine or liquor, scientists report. Beer drinkers have lower-quality diets, are less active and are more likely to smoke than those who drink wine,…  read on >  read on >

Obesity, alcohol use and other factors are driving up rates of fatty liver disease among American adults, new research warns. By 2018, federal data showed that 42% of adults had some form of fatty liver disease — higher than prior estimates, according to a team led by Dr. Juan Pablo Arab, a liver specialist with…  read on >  read on >

High blood pressure is a rare health issue among teens, but U.S. case numbers are creeping upwards. Now, research published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, shows that healthy sleep can help keep hypertension at bay in the young. That’s probably because “disrupted sleep can lead to changes in the body’s stress…  read on >  read on >

Lives lost to obesity-related heart disease have nearly tripled over the past twenty years, a new study reports. Heart disease deaths linked to obesity increased 2.8-fold between 1999 and 2020, according to findings presented today at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Chicago. The increase occurred especially among middle-aged men, Black adults, Midwesterners and…  read on >  read on >

It may seem counter-intuitive, but losing weight without even trying may not be a good thing. “It’s not typical to have a noticeable drop in weight without changing how much you’re eating, being more physically active or trying to lose weight,” said dietitian Christine Goukasian. “Unexplained weight loss is a red flag,” she added in…  read on >  read on >