Is your family struggling with overweight or obesity? To lose weight, take a team approach. Studies show that when overweight parents shed pounds, so do their overweight kids. Parents hold the keys to positive behaviors that encourage a healthy weight, from doing the food shopping and cooking to getting kids involved in sports and other…  read on >

Stem cell clinics are charging big money for knee arthritis “cures” and making extravagant claims about their therapies, a new study contends. A same-day injection for one knee costs thousands of dollars at these centers, according to a consumer survey taken of clinics across the United States. People are paying that kind of cash because…  read on >

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is believed caused by a hormonal imbalance that affects the release of a woman’s egg each month. The condition, which usually causes infertility, affects up to one in 10 women of childbearing age, the Office on Women’s Health says. The agency mentions these common symptoms of PCOS: Irregular menstrual cycle. Excess…  read on >

Is your toddler always kicking and screaming? There’s a reason for much of it. Physical aggression, like pushing and hitting, is part of the learning process. This typically lasts from about one-and-a-half to three-and-a-half years of age, until children learn how to ask for a toy, for instance, rather than just grab it from another…  read on >

A growing number of U.S. kids are ending up in the intensive care unit after overdosing on prescription painkillers or other opioids, a new study finds. Researchers found that between 2004 and 2015, the number of children and teens admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit for an opioid overdose nearly doubled. That included teenagers…  read on >

Seeing too many social media posts from friends about their fitness activity can harm your body image, a new study contends. “When people received more posts about exercise, it made them more concerned about their weight — more self-conscious — and that’s not a good thing,” said study co-author Stephen Rains. He’s a professor of…  read on >

Heart disease used to be thought of as a man’s issue, but women are unfortunately catching up. And though it’s still also thought of as an older person’s disease, lifestyle factors in your younger years can make you more susceptible. So it’s never too soon to protect heart health. Young women in particular aren’t always…  read on >

Temporarily boosting the dose of inhaled steroids may not do much to reduce the frequency of severe asthma flare-ups in children, according to two new studies. Short-term increases in inhaled steroids might even be tied to slightly slowed growth in kids, one of the studies suggested. Asthma flare-ups in children are common and many doctors…  read on >

The brutal flu season continues to ease its grip on the United States, with the latest government data showing that doctor visits are still dropping and less severe strains of the flu are starting to account for more infections. But hospitalizations for flu are still rising, as are pediatric deaths. For the third week in…  read on >