CNN – Health

Personal essay by Mary Frances Ruskell, CNN (CNN) — I spent my freshman year of high school despairing that I hadn’t invented a synthetic human heart, launched a tech start-up, written an opera or raised $10 million for charity. I ran track, sang in a cathedral choir and taught little kids how to kayak in

By Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — How often one should poop has been a hot topic, with experts saying the numerical range partly depends on several personal factors. But is there a similar prescription for how frequently you should pee? The answer is yes, experts say — and veering too far outside of this range

By Amy O’Kruk, CNN Anyone who’s seen December classics like “Home Alone” or “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” knows that holiday decor can pack a punch: Tree baubles turn to glass-shard booby traps, and string lights become tripwires. While neither movie landed any characters in the hospital, in reality, Christmas decor debacles send thousands of Americans

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first prescription medicine for obstructive sleep apnea: the weight-loss drug Zepbound. The medicine, part of the class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that also includes Ozempic, was cleared to treat moderate to severe forms of the sleep condition in

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — Since Ozempic blasted onto the stage in 2017 with its approval for type 2 diabetes, drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been battling to leapfrog each other with newer and more effective medicines to turbo-charge diabetes and weight-loss results with the class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Novo

By Katherine Dillinger, CNN (CNN) — The California Department of Food and Agriculture has issued a statewide recall of raw milk produced and packaged by Valley Milk Simply Bottled after H5N1 bird flu virus was found in samples from a bulk tank at the company’s dairy farm. The recall applies to all Valley Milk and

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration has finalized new standards that foods must meet before they can be labeled as “healthy.” Requirements now include limits on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. “Healthy” foods must also contain a certain amount of food from at least one of the key

By Katherine Dillinger, CNN (CNN) — Frito-Lay is recalling some 13-ounce bags of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips because they may contain undeclared milk. The recalled bags have a “guaranteed fresh” date of February 11, 2025, and the manufacturing codes 6462307xx or 6463307xx, the company said in an announcement Wednesday. The chips were distributed to stores

By Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — Nick Fournie was 24 years old when severe depression upended his life. Fournie had been married to his longtime sweetheart for two years, and had no reason to suspect he had any mental health issues. “I just thought to myself, ‘If this is it, if this is all there

By Katia Hetter, CNN (CNN) — The holiday season can be intense. People are traveling, hosting family and friends, and going to events — all the while keeping up other responsibilities of work and caregiving. All this activity has me thinking about the importance of keeping our immune systems healthy. What are some habits that

By Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — As bird flu infections rise in dairy cattle and chickens, human cases are ticking up too, leaving many people to wonder whether they might be at risk from this recently arrived virus. Bird flu infections are rare in people. Sixty-one human cases have been confirmed in the US this

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — Life expectancy in the United States is rising nearly as quickly as it fell at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as deaths from Covid-19 and drug overdoses drop. After falling 2.4 years between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy rose by more than a year in 2022, and new

By Jamie Gumbrecht and Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — A patient in Louisiana has been hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1 bird flu, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, the first such case in the United States. The agency said Wednesday that the person was exposed to sick and dead birds

By Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, was long thought to be a disorder that only affected children. But now it’s well established that the symptoms can persist into adulthood — and a large new study has assessed which treatments may be most effective at alleviating them. Stimulant medications, and

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — Drinking a small amount of wine each day may protect the heart, according to a new study of Spanish people following the plant-based Mediterranean diet, which typically includes drinking a small glass of wine with dinner. In a group of people over 60 at risk for heart disease, drinking

By Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration has placed its most serious warning – a so-called black-box warning – on a drug used to relieve menopausal hot flashes. The FDA says women who are taking Veozah may need more frequent blood testing to check for markers of liver problems. In

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN (CNN) — Vitamin D and calcium are essential for overall health but don’t reduce the risk of falls or fractures in generally healthy older adults, according to a new draft recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force. When it comes to lowering this risk, the task force recommends against relying

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — The steps you take each day could lead you to a reduction in depression symptoms, according to a new study. A study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open found that a higher daily step count is associated with fewer depressive symptoms. “Our study provides further evidence that

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — Towana Looney is the only person in the world living with a functional pig kidney. But her doctor predicts that in less than a decade, pig-to-human organ transplants like hers could become routine. Looney, 53, is from Alabama and had the transplant at NYU Langone Transplant Institute in New

By Andrea Kane, CNN Editor’s note: The podcast Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the medical science behind some of life’s mysteries big and small. You can listen to episodes here. (CNN) — The holidays and New Year’s Eve are fast approaching, and for many, that means alcohol-infused festivities and gatherings to navigate. We’re