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Editorial: After a year of RFK Jr.'s policies, vaccination rates are down, measles cases are up, and public health hangs in the balance

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Almost 250 years ago, George Washington created America’s first mass immunization mandate, relying on science to protect public health.

Oh, how times have changed.

Back then, smallpox had just helped end the Continental Army’s invasion of Canada. Despite making it all the way to Quebec, thousands of soldiers contracted the disease. ...Read more

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Florida uses emergency rule to cut patients off AIDS medication

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Department of Health is using emergency rules to cut about 12,000 people off from affordable access to their HIV/AIDS medication starting Sunday.

The Department’s emergency rules were filed Tuesday, one day ahead of a hearing in a legal challenge to the state over changes to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. ...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: ‘Fibermaxxing’ Explained

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In the ever-evolving world of health and wellness, a new trend is gaining attention for its bold approach to digestive health: fibermaxxing. This practice involves significantly increasing dietary fiber intake — sometimes well beyond standard recommended levels — in pursuit of benefits like improved digestion, weight management, and overall ...Read more

Savoring the benefits of bone broth

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you’ve been to the soup section of the supermarket lately, you’ve probably noticed that bone broths are crowding the shelves. These savory broths are having a moment, especially among those following paleo, keto, or other trendy low-carb diets.

What is bone broth?

At its simplest, bone broth is made by simmering animal bones (usually ...Read more

Can you eat kiwi skin?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sweet, refreshing, and loaded with health benefits, kiwis pack a lot into a small package. But can you eat kiwi skin? While you might be used to peeling off the fuzzy brown skin of kiwi fruit with a paring knife, vegetable peeler, or spoon, you don't actually need to. Kiwi skin is, in fact, edible — and it’s good for you too.

There’s more...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Men: Don’t blow off those health screening reminders

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I just turned 45, and I think guys my age are due for some health screenings. Which ones should I prioritize, and how often should I get them?

ANSWER: Congratulations for getting these important health checks on your radar. Historically, men have been hesitant to seek medical attention when something seems wrong with their ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q&A: What is pulsed field ablation?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have atrial fibrillation, and I've heard there's a new kind of ablation that could relieve my symptoms. Can you tell me about it?

ANSWER: If you have atrial fibrillation (AFib), you're not alone — it's the most common heart rhythm disorder, affecting millions around the world. AFib occurs when the heart's upper chambers ...Read more

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Should drug companies be advertising to consumers?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Tamar Abrams had a lousy couple of years in 2022 and ’23. Both her parents died; a relationship ended; she retired from communications consulting. She moved from Arlington, Virginia, to Warren, Rhode Island, where she knew all of two people.

“I was kind of a mess,” recalled Abrams, 69. Trying to cope, “I was eating myself into oblivion....Read more

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State lawmakers seek restraints on wage garnishment for medical debt

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Lawmakers in at least eight states this year are aiming to reel in wage garnishment for unpaid medical bills.

The legislation introduced in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington builds on efforts made in other states in past years. This latest push for patient protections comes as the Trump administration has...Read more

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Nevada debuts public option amid tumultuous federal changes to health care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

More than 10,000 people have enrolled in Nevada’s new public option health plans, which debuted last fall with the expectation that they would bring lower prices to the health insurance market.

Those preliminary numbers from the open enrollment period that ended in January are less than a third of what state officials had projected. Nevada is...Read more

Tourette's tics can include obscenities and slurs. These taboo words are emotionally charged and socially significant, so they tend to be more strongly encoded in the brain’s wiring. Dominic Lipinski/Stringer via Getty Images

Taboo tics like shouting curses and slurs are uncommon in Tourette syndrome − but people who have them suffer harsh social stigma

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

John Davidson, whose life inspired the award-winning biopic “I Swear,” involuntarily shouted a racial slur during Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo’s speech at the BAFTA film awards in London on Feb. 22, 2026. The moment went viral, and the ensuing backlash ignited public debate about Tourette syndrome and its most shocking symptom....Read more

Thousands of HIV/AIDS patients in Florida could soon lose access to lifesaving medications. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Florida’s proposed cuts to AIDS drug program threaten patient care and public health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

More than 128,000 Floridians are living with HIV. The state has the second-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses after Georgia, with approximately 4,500 new diagnoses in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available.

But access to treatment could be in jeopardy if potential budget cuts, announced in January 2026 by the Florida ...Read more

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Commentary: RFK Jr.'s focus on viral nonsense is putting children's lives at risk

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

This month, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the individual entrusted with safeguarding the health of 330 million Americans — posted a 90-second video of himself and Kid Rock doing shirtless calisthenics in blue jeans, riding a stationary bike in the sauna, doing a slow-motion cold plunge and toasting glasses of...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Using combined therapy to treat obesity

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Research shows that metabolic surgery and GLP-1 medications are both effective therapies for treating obesity. Medications typically result in a 10% loss of body weight in a real-world setting, while surgery can achieve more dramatic results, up to 25% to 30%.

Metabolic experts at Mayo Clinic say combining the two in some instances can be an ...Read more

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Red and blue states alike want to limit AI in insurance. Trump wants to limit the states

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It’s the rare policy question that unites Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Democratic-led Maryland government against President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California: How should health insurers use AI?

Regulating artificial intelligence, especially its use by health insurers, is becoming a politically divisive topic,...Read more

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FDA cracks down on weight-loss drug alternatives as thousands sickened in Maryland

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — Popular weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Trulicity and Mounjaro, produced by independent pharmacy labs, sickened some 8,000 or more Marylanders a year by 2024. The Food and Drug Administration announced this month that it will crack down on compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs, including the popular Hims and Hers brand. ...Read more

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Trump required hospitals to post their prices for patients. Mostly it's the industry using the data

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Republicans think patients should be shopping for better health care prices. The party has long pushed to give patients money and let consumers do the work of reducing costs. After some GOP lawmakers closed out 2025 advocating to fund health savings accounts, President Donald Trump introduced his Great Healthcare Plan, which calls for, among ...Read more

Molds on foods produce a range of microbial toxins and biochemical byproducts that can be harmful. JulieAlexK/iStock via Getty Images

Why you can salvage moldy cheese but never spoiled meat − a toxicologist advises on what to watch out for

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

When you open the refrigerator and find a wedge of cheese flecked with green mold, or a package of chicken that smells faintly sour, it can be tempting to gamble with your stomach rather than waste food.

But the line between harmless fermentation and dangerous spoilage is sharp. Consuming spoiled foods exposes the body to a range of ...Read more

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Measles case confirmed in a person who visited a Montgomery County car dealership and a Wawa

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Montgomery County health officials on Saturday warned residents of a possible measles exposure at two locations in the county, after confirming another case of the highly contagious disease.

A person infected with measles visited a car dealership and a convenience store in Royersford and Limerick earlier this week, officials ...Read more

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Clinics sour on CMS after agency scraps 10-year primary care program only months in

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CELO COMMUNITY, N.C. — On a 15-degree morning in January, a clinic in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina began to fill up with patients.

An older couple in flannel pajamas sat together in the waiting room. A toddler waved as Patricia Hall walked past him, a stethoscope draped over her neck. The family physician waved and smiled back....Read more