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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Megan Egbert’s experience, it can often take dozens of calls reporting possible abuse or neglect of a child before the Department of Health and Welfare finally takes action.

The first time Egbert, now a Democratic state representative from Boise, served as a court-appointed representative for a child in foster care, the department received...Read more

In Colorado, as of 2025, about 500 people a year die from lung cancer as the result of radon gas exposure. Nationally, the number of lung cancer deaths attributed to radon is about 21,000 per year.

Radon is present nearly everywhere outdoors, yet typically at levels that are not harmful. It becomes dangerous when it gets trapped and ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland has reported six times as many mumps cases in early 2026 as it did all of last year, with most infections concentrated in the Baltimore metropolitan area, state health officials said Thursday.

The Maryland Department of Health, or MDH, reported 26 cases — 19 confirmed and seven probable, compared with four cases for all...Read more

Maryland has reported six times as many mumps cases in early 2026 as it did all of last year, with most infections concentrated in the Baltimore metropolitan area, state health officials said Thursday.

The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) reported 26 cases — 19 confirmed and seven probable, compared with four cases for all of 2025. (The ...Read more

A fourth measles case has been confirmed in Los Angeles County, prompting renewed calls from health officials for residents to ensure they are protected against the highly contagious virus.

The infected individual flew from Singapore to Los Angeles International Airport on Feb. 9 aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 38. The plane landed at about 7 ...Read more

“Big Bang Theory” star Kunal Nayyar, who in the 2010s was twice ranked the world’s third-highest-paid TV actor, revealed in a recent interview that he uses his earnings to make donations on GoFundMe.

“Money has given me greater freedom and the greatest gift is the ability to give back, to change people’s lives,” the 44-year-old ...Read more

“Humble” is not a word my colleagues would use to describe me, especially early in my career.

In fact, when word got around that I was researching humility, I suspect more than a few choked on their coffee.

And even though I have spent over a decade exploring the concept as an attribute and as a practice, it wasn’t until...Read more

One year after taking charge of the nation’s health department, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn’t held true to many of the promises he made while appealing to U.S. senators concerned about the longtime anti-vaccine activist’s plans for the nation’s care.

Kennedy squeaked through a narrow Senate vote to be ...Read more

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision, made public on Feb. 10, 2026, to not review an application to approve Moderna’s proposed mRNA-based flu vaccine set off a firestorm of criticism from public health experts.

But just a week later, on Feb. 18, the FDA backtracked on its decision, saying that it will indeed review the ...Read more

The Trump administration announced on Feb. 12, 2026, that it is ending Operation Metro Surge, its deployment of more than 3,000 federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding metro area. Federal officials say some agents will remain in the area and have vowed that similar immigration sweeps are coming soon...Read more

Wyoming officials say they have a plan to make five years of upcoming grants from a new $50 billion federal rural health program last “forever.”

The state could tackle rural health issues long into the future by investing its awards from the Rural Health Transformation Program, the director of Wyoming’s health department, Stefan Johansson...Read more

Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant often found in coffee, tea, chocolate and various energy drinks and medications. But how does caffeine impact the body? Let’s take a system- by-system look at what caffeine really does when it enters your bloodstream.

Central nervous system

Caffeine’s most noticeable effect is on the central ...Read more