Southwest Life

ATLANTA – U.S. smoking rates continue to hold steady, at about one in five adults lighting up regularly, frustrated health officials reported last week.About 21 percent of U.S. adults were smokers...

ATLANTA – An apple a day? Apparently not in the United States.Most Americans still don’t eat vegetables often enough, and fruit consumption is dropping a little, according to a new government...

NEW YORK – A 15-year-old boy damaged his eyes while playing with a laser pointer he’d bought over the Internet, say doctors who warn that dangerously high-powered versions are easily available...

Scientists are reporting a major advance in diagnosing tuberculosis: A new test can reveal in less than two hours, with very high accuracy, whether someone has the disease and if it’s resistant to...

CHICAGO – Surgery to remove healthy ovaries gives a triple benefit to high-risk women: It lowers their threat of breast and ovarian cancer and boosts their chances of living longer, new research...

ATLANTA – Could your kitchen at home pass a restaurant inspection?New research suggests that at least one in seven home kitchens would flunk the kind of health inspection commonly administered to...

LONDON – The number of weight-loss surgeries in England jumped more than tenfold from 2000 to 2007, a new study says.Dr. Omar Faiz, a consultant surgeon at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, and...

LONDON – Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely to make decisions that could end the lives of their terminally ill patients, compared with doctors who are very religious, according...

NEW YORK – Eating more heart-healthy omega-3 fats provided no additional benefit in a study of heart attack survivors who were already getting good care, Dutch researchers report.After nearly 3½...

Palliative care, which helps the gravely ill make the most of the time they have left, provided a surprising bonus for terminal lung cancer patients: More time left to enjoy.A study found that...