U.S. cancer centers continue to have shortages of commonly used chemotherapy drugs, a new survey shows, though the medications are not as scarce as they were last June. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nonprofit alliance of leading cancer centers, surveyed its network in September. In all, 72% of cancer centers surveyed reported a…  read on >  read on >

While HDL cholesterol is considered the “good” kind for heart and brain health, too much or too little of it may up a person’s risk of dementia, new research suggests. “This study is especially informative because of the large number of participants and long follow-up,” noted study author Maria Glymour, of Boston University. She said…  read on >  read on >

Going vegetarian is trendy and popular, along with being a healthy choice, but a large portion of those who say they want to stick with a plant-based diet don’t. It might come down to your DNA, suggests new research that has uncovered three genes that seem to be strongly linked to vegetarianism. “It seems there…  read on >  read on >

Pharmaceutical companies that make the 10 prescription drugs chosen to be the first for price negotiations for Medicare patients have agreed to talks with the government. The Biden administration announced Tuesday that the drugmakers, including Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson, will take part in price negotiations despite ongoing lawsuits over this same…  read on >  read on >

Drinking dark tea daily may help balance blood sugar levels and stave off type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease most closely tied to obesity. This is the main message from a new study that looked at tea-drinking habits and diabetes risk among people in China. Folks who drank dark tea every day had…  read on >  read on >

For most people, there’s no reason to give up gluten for good. But that’s not so easy for folks with two gluten-related medical conditions: celiac disease and gluten intolerance, according to Dr. Sarmed Sami, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. He offers some details about this protein and the two health conditions. Gluten…  read on >  read on >

Faced with growing reports of inaccurate clinical lab tests, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced that it will for the first time regulate these vital diagnostic tools. Many Americans might have assumed that the FDA already had oversight of all medical tests; it does not. However, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said…  read on >  read on >