Health

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A potential weapon against Alzheimer’s disease could be hidden in aloe vera, scientists recently uncovered.Aloe vera, a rubbery green plant, may be best known for its skin-soothing qualities, but a study published in Current Pharmaceutical Analysis suggests that key chemicals within the plant could interact with enzymes involved in Alzheimer’s disease, hinting at a new approach to disrupting cognitive breakdown.A chemical messenger in the brain called acetylcholine, which helps nerve cells communicate, is reduced in Alzheimer’s patients, contributing to memory loss and cognitive decline, according to the study press release.SCIENTISTS REVEAL THE ONE PRACTICE THAT COULD PREVENT DEMENTIA AS YOU AGETwo enzymes in the brain (cholinesterase and ...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Think your sound machine is helping you sleep? It might be doing the opposite.A new study from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine found that listening to pink noise at bedtime could disturb REM sleep (dream sleep) and sleep recovery.The research, published in the journal Sleep, found that earplugs were significantly more effective at blocking out traffic noise during sleep.SIMPLE NIGHTLY HABIT LINKED TO HEALTHIER BLOOD PRESSURE, STUDY SUGGESTSThe researchers observed 25 healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 41, in an eight-hour, seven-night sleep lab simulation, according to a Penn Medicine press release.The participants said they did not previously use noise to help them sleep, and did not have any sleep disorde...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Prior to James Van Der Beek's death at age 48, the actor revealed the first warning sign of his colon cancer — and it’s one that did not seem alarming at the time.The "Dawson’s Creek" actor's wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, confirmed his passing in a social media post on Wednesday.Following the announcement of his colorectal cancer diagnosis in November 2024, Van Der Beek told Healthline in August that "there wasn’t any red flag or something glaring."COLORECTAL CANCER NOW DEADLIEST TYPE FOR CERTAIN GROUP OF AMERICANS, STUDY FINDS"I was healthy. I was doing the cold plunge," he said. "I was in amazing cardiovascular shape, and I had stage 3 cancer, and I had no idea."The one symptom that he did experience was a change in bowel movements, which ...

Study finds link between obesity and vascular dementia Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss an increase of colon cancer in people under 50 despite overall lowering cancer deaths and a new study linking obesity to vascular dementia. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Obesity may be a contributing factor in more than 10% of infection-related deaths, a new study reveals.The researchers analyzed medical data from nearly 550,000 adults in Finland and the U.K. over a 14-year period, finding that obese patients were 70% more likely to be hospitalized with or die from an infection. The Finnish patients averaged 42 years of age, while the average age of U.K. patients was 57. Obesity was defined by a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or ab...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! After years of backing the legalization of marijuana in the U.S., The New York Times changed course in an editorial published Tuesday.In the piece, entitled "It’s Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem," the editorial board stated that the U.S. "has recently gone too far in accepting and even promoting its use."This is a stark departure from the publication’s longtime support of making marijuana mainstream. In a 2014 editorial, the Times argued the federal ban on the drug should be repealed and the decision should be left up to the individual states.MARIJUANA COMPOUND MAY HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA WHEN PAIRED WITH COMMON DRUG"Prohibition has proved to be a costly failure, with harsh consequences for millions of Americans," th...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to consider Moderna’s application for a new flu vaccine using mRNA technology, the company announced Tuesday, a decision that could delay the introduction of a shot designed to offer stronger protection for older adults.Moderna said it received what’s known as a "refusal-to-file" (RTF) letter from the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), citing the lack of an "adequate and well-controlled" study with a comparator arm that "does not reflect the best-available standard of care."Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, said the FDA's decision did not "identify any safety or efficacy concerns with our product" and "does not further our shared goal of enhancing...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A common medication for diabetes may slow down age-related vision loss, according to new research.People with diabetes who were over the age of 55 and taking metformin — a prescription drug most commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes — were 37% less likely to develop intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) over five years compared to those not taking it.Researchers at the University of Liverpool used eye pictures from 2,000 people who received routine diabetic eye disease screenings over the course of five years.NEARLY 90% OF AMERICANS AT RISK OF SILENT DISEASE — HERE'S WHAT TO KNOWNext, they assessed whether AMD was present in the photos and how severe each case was, before comparing the differences between people taking metfor...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Following last week’s launch of TrumpRx, a federal government-based prescription drug platform, doctors are speaking about its potential benefits for consumers — and also its limitations.The platform, which can be accessed at TrumpRx.gov, allows patients to access "large discounts on many of the most popular and highest-priced medicines in the country," according to the statement on The White House website.The goal is for consumers to get the lowest available pricing among other developed nations, referred to as the MFN (most-favored-nation) price.TRUMP UNVEILS TRUMPRX TO OFFER DISCOUNTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGSAs of its initial launch, TrumpRx includes discounted pricing for 40 medications from five pharmaceutical manufacturers: AstraZeneca, El...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Drinking two to three cups of coffee daily could reduce the risk of dementia, according to new observational research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.American researchers analyzed four decades of data from more than 130,000 doctors and nurses, finding that moderately caffeinated coffee and tea intake can lower the risk of cognitive decline, according to SWNS.The analysis revealed that not only did participants with the highest intake of caffeinated coffee have a lower risk of dementia, but there also appeared to be a "sweet spot" where it was most effective.SCIENTISTS REVEAL THE ONE PRACTICE THAT COULD PREVENT DEMENTIA AS YOU AGEPrevious findings on the relationship between coffee and dementia have been inconsis...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Colorblindness, a condition that mostly affects men, could be linked to a higher mortality risk in bladder cancer cases, a new study suggests.About 8% of men are estimated to have a form of color vision deficiency (CVD), compared to 0.5% of women, according to global statistics.The condition, in which patients see and identify color differently, could cause people to miss blood in their urine, which is a vital sign of bladder cancer.RISK OF DEADLY CANCER TRIPLES WITH HIDDEN MOUTH BACTERIA, STUDY FINDSBlood in the urine is the most common first sign of the disease and is often the impetus that leads to diagnosis, according to researchers at Stanford Medicine.Those with colorblindness usually have difficulty seeing the colors red and green, w...