Health

While Americans have been drinking roughly the same amount of coffee over recent years, the calories in those cups have increased thanks primarily to the addition of nondairy creamer, according to a new study from researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

Boil them, mash them, simmer them in a sauce. Whether they’re sweetening a salad, garnishing a cocktail or brightening up home decor, cranberries are an iconic ingredient in holiday festivities. UIC College of Dentistry researcher Christine Wu found another reason to add these tart treats to your grocery cart: oral health.

Noncommunicable diseases account for three-quarters of deaths worldwide but affect different population groups in different ways, a World Health Organization study showed Tuesday.

Your fitness tracker may reveal more than your daily step count. It could also offer clues about your future brain health. Researchers analyzed a year’s worth of Fitbit data from more than 22,000 adults, ages 40 and older, and then checked their medical records for another five years.

Quercetin is found in citrus fruits, onions and buckwheat and is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Now researchers at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have investigated how the plant compound could help treat lung cancer. In the lab, experiments showed that quercetin slows the division of lung cancer cells and almost completely stops their migration. The results have appeared in the journal Cell Death Discovery.

Children of parents who have melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer that starts in the cells that make pigment, have twice the lifetime risk of developing the disease themselves. A researcher from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) has developed a successful program to teach melanoma patients and their children behaviors that will help prevent the onset of melanoma later in life.

Australia’s updated cardiovascular disease risk calculator is identifying substantially more Australians aged 45–74 as being at “intermediate” risk of heart attack and stroke, according to new analysis published in the Medical Journal of Australia. The insights could provide patients and their general practitioners with a valuable opportunity to act early and prevent cardiovascular events.

A new rapid attribution study by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) finds that human-induced climate change made the June 2026 heat wave in Belgium 3.9°C hotter and more than doubled the number of heat-related deaths. Of the estimated 1,181 deaths statistically linked to the extreme temperatures recorded between June 17 and 28, 2026, 665—or 56%—would not have occurred without anthropogenic climate change. This is the first time heat-related deaths during a specific Belgian heat wave have been attributed to human-induced climate change.

Urban residents with more greenery within 100 meters (328 feet) of their homes have a 20% lower risk of developing dementia over time, according to a new study from Stockholm University and Karolinska Institute that followed nearly 3,000 older adults for 16 years. Published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the study highlights the importance of greenspace in the immediate surroundings of the home for sustainable urban planning that supports brain health.

For decades, boys and men were more likely than their female peers to use nicotine. But a new study from MUSC shows that among U.S. adolescents, that pattern has reversed for vaping.

Ultraprocessed foods have a terrible reputation.