Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Coffee, Spices, Wine

    Several dietary agents, including coffee, wine, and cinnamon, appear to restore some of the body's responsiveness to insulin, potentially slowing diabetes' onset or ravages.

    By Janet Raloff
  2. Health & Medicine

    Firms vie to treat genetic disease

    Successful treatment of Fabry's disease—a rare, fatal genetic condition—prompts a law suit.

    By John Travis
  3. Health & Medicine

    Killing immune cells thwarts arthritis

    Researchers have successfully treated people with rheumatoid arthritis by temporarily wiping out most of their antibody-producing immune cells.

    By John Travis
  4. Health & Medicine

    Prostate enzyme triggers cancer drug

    A new drug reverses advanced prostate cancer in mice by enlisting the aid of prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme found in most prostate tumors.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Zapping Wayward Cells: Therapy sheds light on transplant complication

    Ultraviolet light can curb graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of bone marrow transplants, a study of mice shows.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Gene ups oral-cancer risk for drinkers who smoke

    People who have a particular variant of a single gene are at a disproportionate risk of oral cancer if they both smoke and drink.

    By Ben Harder
  7. Health & Medicine

    Fetal cells pop up in mom’s thyroid

    A woman's thyroid gland contains male cells, suggesting that cells from her son passed into her when he was a fetus.

    By John Travis
  8. Health & Medicine

    Gene helps alcohol help the heart

    A genetic study indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol helps keep the heart healthy.

    By John Travis
  9. Health & Medicine

    Pill boosts cancer risk in some women

    Women who took oral contraceptives before 1975, and whose mother or sister had breast cancer between 1944 and 1952, have triple the likelihood of getting breast cancer as compared with similar women who didn't take the pill.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Interferon delays multiple sclerosis

    In some people who show early-warning signs of multiple sclerosis, the drug interferon-beta-1a seems to delay or even prevent the disease from becoming full-blown.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link

    Veterans who suffered a moderate or severe concussion during World War II face a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease when they reach old age.

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Health & Medicine

    When It’s No Longer Baby Fat

    Increasingly, children are plump by the time they enter school, and they get fatter as they grow.

    By Janet Raloff