The government’s attempt to reduce childhood obesity is moving from the school cafeteria to the vending machines.  The Obama administration is working on setting nutritional standards for foods that children can buy outside the cafeteria. With students eating 19 percent to 50 percent of their daily food at school, the administration says it wants to [...]

For most people, the only time jumping into ice might sound like a great idea is after a grueling workout. Athletes have used so-called cold therapy for years, saying it reduces inflammation, speeds recovery and prevents muscle soreness.  According to research, ice baths can be helpful — at least in comparison to doing nothing. In [...]

Mars Inc, the maker of Snickers and Twix candy bars, will stop selling chocolate products with more than 250 calories in them by the end of next year.  The McLean, Virginia-based company, which also makes M&Ms and Skittles candies and Juicy Fruit chewing gum, said the goal is part of an ongoing effort to improve [...]

We all experience periods of coughing with colds, but a cough that won’t go away is not something to ignore, says James Mojica, a pulmonologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The lung doesn’t have pain fibers, so the way that it communicates is by generating a cough,’’ he says. In fact, irritation anywhere in the airway [...]

While many of us wonder just how much exercise we really need in order to gain health and fitness, a group of scientists in Canada are turning that issue on its head and asking, how little exercise do we need?  The emerging and engaging answer appears to be, a lot less than most of us [...]

As improbable as it sounds, researchers have found that a low-calorie meal plan that includes dessert with breakfast may help dieters.  Scientists randomized 144 obese people, ages 20 to 65, to two low-carbohydrate diets providing 1,400 daily calories for women and 1,600 for men. The diets were identical except that one included a high-carbohydrate, protein-enriched [...]