Folks taking dietary supplements intended to help their heart health are just wasting their money, a new clinical trial suggests. Six supplements widely promoted as heart-healthy — fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols and red yeast rice — didn’t do a thing to lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or improve heart health, researchers…  read on >  read on >

The antiviral pill Paxlovid not only reduces hospitalization and death after catching COVID-19: New research shows it also cuts the chances of long COVID by roughly 25%. The drug, which combines a newer antiviral called nirmatrelvir with an older medication known as ritonavir, delivered that added bonus to patients, at least the mostly older white…  read on >  read on >

THURSDAY, Nov. 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) – A weight-loss drug approved for adults may soon become an option for teens struggling with obesity. Young people who received the drug Wegovy (semaglutide) were able to lose an average of 14.7% of their starting body weight in a new clinical trial. More than 40% of the youths…  read on >  read on >

Years of litigation over the opioid epidemic could end soon, as the national pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens announced Wednesday that each company has agreed to a nearly $5 billion settlement. While neither of the companies admitted wrongdoing, the settlements are part of the fight over the drug industry’s role in the epidemic that has…  read on >  read on >

Obesity is never healthy, and that may be especially true for people who also develop multiple sclerosis. Obese people with MS are likely to see the disability linked to the disease rapidly worsen, said German researchers who followed more than 1,000 patients in a new study. Weight loss, they suggested, might help slow the progression…  read on >  read on >

MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) – It could be harder to fill a prescription for the widely used antibiotic amoxicillin because of a shortage that appears to be linked to an ongoing surge in RSV infections across the United States. Supplies of amoxicillin oral solution, which is typically used in children, are low, the…  read on >  read on >