Eliza Barclay

There's a mountain of myths and assumptions about what makes us fat. One researcher is interested in understanding where these ideas come from and why scientists continue to recycle them. In a new study, he homes in on the presumption that skipping breakfast has a direct effect on obesity.

The supercheap and palatable noodles help low-wage workers around the world get by, anthropologists argue in a new book. And rather than lament the ascendance of this highly processed food, they argue we should try to make it more nutritious.

The FDA's new rule says gluten-free food can't contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten. Most products on the market with the label already meet that standard.

Dr. Roger Nasci, a mosquito expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says you don't necessarily need repellent with a high percentage of DEET to keep the 'skeeters away. Repellent still works well in low doses, and so far mosquitoes aren't growing resistant to it.

Doctors say prisoners of sound mind have a right to refuse nourishment and must not be force-fed.

Scientists have completed the first long-term study of children allergic to milk who were treated with an experimental therapy based on giving them small doses of the very food that made them sick. Three to five years after the treatment, some kids remained free of allergic symptoms. But for others, severe reactions to milk had resumed.

Sitting is looking less and less healthy, but it can be hard to get up off the couch and go. Using a pedometer can help change those habits, a study says. That's good to know, since employers including the White House are increasingly using the gizmos in wellness programs.

The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest styles of eating in the world. But in many regions, including Denmark and Sweden, it's not easy to follow when olive oil is hard to find. Now Nordic researchers are exploring the health benefits of a Nordic diet, based on local foods like herring and bilberries.

Lesions on the teeth of crack and methamphetamine addicts have a lot in common with those on the teeth of people addicted to soda, a dental researcher writes in a case study. But even people who wouldn't consider themselves "soda addicts" are at risk of dental erosion, he says.

Unlike drugs that come in bottles, pot cookies and other marijuana edibles don't come in child-resistant packaging. But in Colorado, which legalized medical marijuana in 2000, doctors say they should, since kids are unintentionally ingesting adults' doped-up treats.