Stories by Rachael Rettner

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration discovered an amphetamine-like substance in certain diet pills and sports products in 2013 but did not warn consumers

Chris Borland's decision has provoked discussion of the types of brain damage that can occur including a severe degenerative disease abbreviated as CTE

The product, approved Tuesday by a government agency, yields a drink with the same alcohol content as a standard mixed drink, so some lawmakers are concerned

The increase in prescription pain medication use might be a contributing factor

Only dogs should be allowed to visit because they're more reliably trained and less risky, says the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology 

In the last century alone, researchers have described more than 1,000 cases of plague infections in the U.S.

Scientists are eager to find out whether the new virus that infects gut bacteria could promote health or influence susceptibility to certain conditions

Injecting the TBX18 gene into heart muscle could transform normal heart cells into special ones that can initiate a heartbeat

Customers at the same table are found to pick main dishes from the same category of food as their fellow diners

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight the urgent need for changes in prescription practices in a new report

NASA-funded research found drawbacks to having extroverts on teams in isolated and confined environments

While the new labels alone won't curb the obesity epidemic, public health experts applaud the FDA's new nutrition label rules and design

The new labels would make serving sizes more realistic and differentiate between total sugar content and added sugars

Each additional hour spent sitting by study subjects was associated with a nearly 50-percent increase in the odds of having a disability

Reducing trans fat in foods could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year

Endocrine disruptors have the potential to interfere with hormone production and affect our reproduction

A consumer advocacy organization crowned Long John Silver's platter as the "worst restaurant meal"

CDC Research suggests that increasing prescriptions and physiological differences are driving a rise in deaths

Gene patents, if upheld by the Supreme Court, could affect genetic research and access to genetic tests for patients

New findings back up a study published last year that suggested HRT increased the risk of all categories of breast cancer. Previusly, doctors thought HRT only increased the risk of less-serious cancers

Gluten-free products made with refined grains can be low in fiber, vitamins and minerals

Hallucinations, heart problems and seizures also tied to illegal drug

A new study finds that 40 percent of physicians in hospitals report that, at least once a month, they took on more patients than they could safely handle. The results suggest that hospitals need to evaluate doctors' workloads and create standards for safety

Morbidly obese individuals—those with a BMI of 40 and above—were 80 percent more likely to die in a car crash, according to a study published in Emergency Medical Journal