obesity

A new government survey finds that about 40% of American adults are obese

There’s no way to sugarcoat this news: Nearly half of American adults will be obese within a decade and one-quarter will be severely so, a new report predicts....

It corrects for a weakness in previous estimates that may have made the problem seem not as big as it really is. Those estimates often relied on national health surveys and people tend...

Here’s what science has to say about a twice-yearly ritual affecting nearly 2 billion people worldwide.

The risk for developing breast cancer at any age is closely linked to a pet’s exposure to estrogen and progesterone in the first few years of life.

You’re seeing lots of snack bars for kids … smaller, often with more chocolate options than the bars you might grab on the go. The marketing makes it look like they’re healthy. But are they a good choice for your child?

You’re seeing lots of snack bars for kids … smaller, often with more chocolate options than the bars you might grab on the go. The marketing makes it look like they’re healthy. But are they a good choice for your child? Consumer Reports’ nutritionists checked them out for you.

Are you feeling tired and stressed by the pressures of your life? Consumer Reports says that an easy and free way to feel better is to simply open your door and step out into nature.

Are you feeling tired and stressed by the pressures of your life? Consumer Reports says that an easy and free way to feel better is to simply open your door and step out into nature.

Americans’ diets are a little less sweet and a little crunchier but there’s still too much sugar, white bread and artery-clogging fat, a study suggests. Overall, the authors estimated there was a modest improvement over 16 years on the government’s healthy eating index, from estimated scores of 56 to 58. That’s hardly cause for celebration — 100 is the top...

Americans are addicted to snacks, and food experts are paying closer attention to what that might mean for health and obesity. Eating habits in the U.S. have changed significantly in recent decades, and packaged bars, chips and sweets have spread into every corner of life. In the late 1970s, about 40 percent of American adults said they didn’t have any...

The average life expectancy in the U.S. has been on the decline for three consecutive years. A baby born in 2017 is expected to live to be 78.6 years old, which is down from 78.7 the year before, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Preschoolers on government food aid have grown a little less pudgy, a U.S. study found, offering fresh evidence that previous signs of declining obesity rates weren’t a fluke. Obesity rates dropped steadily to about 14% in 2016 — the latest data available — from 16% in 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. “It gives us more hope...

Chips, soda and frozen pizzas tend to be full of salt, sugar and fat, but now scientists are trying to understand if there’s something else about such processed foods that might be bad for us. Already, the spread of cheap, packaged foods has been linked to rising obesity rates around the world. Yet advice to limit processed foods can seem...

Dozing off to late-night TV or sleeping with other lights on may mix up your metabolism and lead to weight gain and even obesity, provocative but preliminary U.S. research suggests. The National Institutes of Health study published Monday isn’t proof, but it bolsters evidence suggesting that too much exposure to light at night could pose health risks. “Evolutionarily we are...

The number of new diabetes cases among U.S. adults keeps falling, even as obesity rates climb, and health officials aren’t sure why. New federal data released Tuesday found the number of new diabetes diagnoses fell to about 1.3 million in 2017, down from 1.7 million in 2009. Earlier research had spotted a decline, and the new report shows it’s been...

Cholesterol levels in children and teens improved in the latest analysis of U.S. health surveys, yet only half of them had readings considered ideal. Overall, 7% of kids had high cholesterol in surveys from 2009 to 2016. That was down from 10% a decade earlier. In children, high levels mean 200 or above and ideal measures are below 170. The...

Americans are becoming increasingly sedentary, spending almost a third of their waking hours sitting down, and computer use is partly to blame, a new study found. Over almost a decade, average daily sitting time increased by roughly an hour, to about eight hours for U.S. teens and almost 6 1/2 hours for adults, according to the researchers. That includes school...

A drug that’s used to help control blood sugar in people with diabetes has now been shown to help prevent or slow kidney disease, which causes millions of deaths each year and requires hundreds of thousands of people to use dialysis to stay alive. Doctors say it’s hard to overstate the importance of this study, and what it means for...

With keto-friendly recipes sweeping social media, some followers of low-carb eating are hoping for a nod of approval in the upcoming U.S. dietary guidelines that advise Americans on what to eat. It may seem minor, but backers say low-carb’s inclusion could influence nutrition advice that doctors give and help shape government food programs like school lunches. Currently, the guidelines cite...

The latest U.S. research on eggs won’t go over easy for those can’t eat breakfast without them. Adults who ate about 1 ½ eggs daily had a slightly higher risk of heart disease than those who ate no eggs. The study showed the more eggs, the greater the risk. The chances of dying early were also elevated. The researchers say...