Placebo

Bonnie Addario didn't even know there was a word for what was happening to her. As if lung cancer weren't bad enough, the 54-year-old had lost 30 pounds off her normally 130-pound frame. Her life was limited to her husband's Barcalounger, where she had to...

The claim: Nivea My Silhouette! Skin cream can significantly reduce consumers’ body size. One television ad states that the product “helps redefine the appearance of your silhouette and noticeably firm skin in just four weeks.” The...

There’s a very interesting and unusually civilized debate going on over at the Atlantic.com, where David H. Freedman has written a boldy-headlined piece called “The Triumph of New Age Medicine.” In the essay, Freedman explores why...

Vitamin E supplements increase the risk of prostate cancer in healthy, middle-aged and older men, according to research published today that strengthens the evidence that some micronutrients, often marketed as antioxidants, are ineffective at preventing...

Imagine having the fountain of youth as close at hand as the bathroom. We're not there yet — but there's a burgeoning number of at-home, high-tech beauty gadgets that claim to smooth wrinkles, whiten teeth and remove hair without the need to...

The pounds continue to melt off for 37-year-old Cecelia Hylak-Reinholtz, one of the women I interviewed for this piece about the long-discredited hCG diet. When the article appeared in the Chicago Tribune in August, Hylak-Reinholtz had dropped 100 pounds....

Struggling with the black dog of depression? The supplement aisle abounds with options for people seeking a non-medicinal remedy — but figuring out what works and what doesn't can be a challenge for consumers and experts alike. That's because...

Around the time of menopause, many women complain of mental slippage. But, as if to inflict some perverse trick upon them, cognitive scientists have found that they actually perform no more poorly than women who do not have such complaints. (Reassuring in...

Megan Elphage lives in fear of another big epileptic seizure. The 22-year-old Glen Burnie woman had her first seizure when she was 13. Even though medications largely keep her epilepsy under control, the prospect of seizures means she can't drive,...

Forget about rock 'n' roll: When rats are administered the highly addictive stimulant methamphetamine and allowed to engage in sexual behavior while high, all they want is more of both. That's the raw finding of a study published Tuesday by the Journal of...

You wouldn't last very long without oxygen. But just as rust slowly eats away at a nail, oxygen can age your body. As your cells use this vital element, they produce free radicals — unstable molecules that can damage your tissues and add wear and...

Ella Johnson thought she was done raising kids. Then one night her daughter, asleep in bed with her 1-year-old son, died of a heart condition, and Johnson suddenly found herself mothering a grieving grandchild who clung to the picture of his dead mother....