Buying new clothes for an upcoming holiday trip may top your to-do list, but packing the right medications can mean addressing health needs with ease rather than scrambling to find an all-night drugstore in a strange city. Prescription medications are the top priority, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bring enough…  read on >

Storing edibles in the refrigerator may help prevent food poisoning, but it doesn’t eliminate the possibility. Foodsafety.gov suggests how to keep refrigerated foods safe: Do not overpack your fridge. Cold air must be allowed to circulate to chill food properly. Keep your fridge between 32 ˚F and 40 ˚F Refrigerate or freeze perishable foods within…  read on >

It’s never too late for women to lose weight to lower their breast cancer risk, a new study suggests. Researchers found that a 5 percent or greater weight loss after menopause could lower the odds of breast cancer by about 12 percent. For a 170-pound woman, a 5 percent weight loss would be 8.5 pounds.…  read on >

Tooth brushing should begin in infancy to instill lifelong habits and protect teeth throughout adulthood. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests: Start practicing oral hygiene as soon as your baby is born by wiping baby’s gums with a soft, clean washcloth. Never give your baby a bottle in the crib. Choose healthy solids when introducing…  read on >

The doctor who diagnosed Grace Anne Koppel with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) didn’t pull any punches. She should start getting her affairs in order, because she only had three to five years left due to her incurable lung disease. Expect to be hospitalized and on full-time oxygen support within a couple of years. “If…  read on >

For children with epilepsy who don’t find relief from their seizures with medication, a tightly controlled nutrition plan might help, a pair of new studies suggests. Called the ketogenic diet, the therapy provides a carefully balanced high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that causes the body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates for fuel. This changes the way…  read on >

Pairing medication with an ingestible sensor can help clinicians track how often and when patients actually take their prescription drugs, according to a small new investigational study. The findings come on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision last month to approve the first digital pill for use with the antipsychotic drug…  read on >

Sublocade, a once-monthly injection of buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Opioid abuse is diagnosed when a person’s pattern of opioid use leads to “significant impairment or distress and includes signs and symptoms that reflect compulsive, prolonged self-administration of opioid substances for no legitimate medical…  read on >

Think cigars are safer than cigarettes? Think again, new research warns. Nicotine levels in so-called “small” or “filtered” cigars were found to be equal to or greater than that found in cigarettes, according to the study by researchers at Penn State’s College of Medicine. “There seems to be a perception in the public that cigars…  read on >

Ogivri (trastuzumab-dkst) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the nation’s first biosimilar drug to treat certain breast and stomach cancers, the agency said Friday in a news release. The maker of a biosimilar, derived from a living organism, must demonstrate that the new product is “highly similar” to an already…  read on >