health/fitness

By SHELLEY SHELTON
Arizona Daily Star
Friday, June 22, 2007

Emergency asthma inhalers propelled by chlorofluorocarbons -- known as CFCs -- are going the way of the Styrofoam hamburger container.

By EDWARD GUTHMANN
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, June 21, 2007

When Nancy McIlvaine told her parents that her newborn son wouldn't be circumcised, her mother gasped. McIlvaine, who lives in Napa, Calif., with her husband, Willem Maas, said she consulted with health professionals about circumcision and never heard a compelling reason to snip her baby's foreskin.

"It's just inflicting pain to a newborn when there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it being beneficial," said McIlvaine, who gave birth to Theodore on June 8.

McIlvaine is part of a growing trend away from male circumcision.

By HEATHER MAY
Salt Lake Tribune
Monday, June 18, 2007

When a woman has a miscarriage, she's often told it was "meant to be."

But what if it's not -- and what if taking one children's aspirin a day could help her have a baby?

University of Utah researchers hope to find the answer.

By ERIN ALLDAY
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, June 14, 2007

The first diet pill approved for over-the-counter sale hits stores Friday, but it faces a tough audience of doctors and dieters who have been burned by decades of weight-loss drugs that haven't lived up to promises or have turned out to have dangerous side effects.

Researchers have long been looking for an effective drug to fight the nation's obesity epidemic.

By CRISTINA ROUVALIS
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Yes, you know that you are supposed to slather on sunscreen to prevent skin cancer and to avoid looking as wrinkled as a sharpei dog.

But it feels greasy.

And you forget to reapply it.

But just in time for the summer season, new sunscreens are lining the shelves, touting better protection and lighter creams and more stable formulas.

By ERICA BLAKE
Thursday, June 14, 2007
For months, the reasons Carrie Weaver's young son remained sick were baffling.

Doctors probed and prodded the boy. Family members visited him in the hospital.

By JANET MOORE
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Monday, June 11, 2007

For those experiencing lower back pain, the array of treatment options may seem daunting.

There's physical therapy, medication and surgery, which is a worst-case scenario for many.

By ERIN ALLDAY
San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, June 11, 2007

Apparently it's harder to shake a bad reputation than a caffeine habit.

Even after decades of study suggesting coffee is not harmful, one of the world's favorite beverages remains much maligned, with people afraid that it may cause everything from cancer to heart disease and high blood pressure.

But according to research, coffee might actually have some health benefits, and it's one of the few drinks available these days that doesn't come loaded with sugar and calories.

By ANDRE PICARD
Toronto Globe and Mail
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

For as long as statistics have been kept, more women than men have died of stroke.

The standard explanation is that women live longer than men, giving them a greater likelihood of stroke (a condition associated with aging) and leaving women more vulnerable to the potentially deadly effects of interrupting blood flow to the brain.

But new research is calling this theory into question, suggesting that there are other factors.

By KAVITA MISHRA
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Folic acid, a powerful and necessary vitamin, has long been argued by researchers to reduce everything from heart disease and stroke to colon and breast cancers.