(HealthDay News) – – Teenage girls who use over-the-counter diet pills and laxatives to lose weight run a very high risk of developing eating disorders, researchers say. In a new U.S. study, girls who used diet pills had a 258% greater risk of being diagnosed with an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia within five…  read on >  read on >

It’s consistently rated high among diets for all-around health, and a new report finds the DASH diet is all-around good for your heart, too. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) regimen is designed to lower high blood pressure, but this new research shows that it also reduces inflammation, heart injury and strain. The study…  read on >  read on >

Too much fat around your heart could increase your risk of heart failure, especially if you’re a woman, researchers warn. They looked at nearly 7,000 45- to 84-year-olds across the United States who had no evidence of heart disease on initial CT scans. Over more than 17 years of followup, nearly 400 developed heart failure.…  read on >  read on >

Losing weight is hard, and keeping it off can be even harder. Now, a new study suggests that sitting less might make all the difference. People who maintained their weight loss spent about three hours less each day sitting than did folks who were obese and stayed that way. “That’s a quite a difference,” said…  read on >  read on >

So-called yo-yo dieting may increase a woman’s risk of insomnia, sleep apnea and other sleep problems, a new study suggests. Yo-yo dieting — formally called weight cycling — is defined as losing and regaining 10 pounds or more when not pregnant. The study included more than 500 women in every stage of adult life, including…  read on >  read on >