A British man died after poisoning himself with two spoonfuls of caffeine powder bought over the internet, local media reported Friday.

WASHINGTON – Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco without craving a local shop's chocolate-covered pretzels. Stop at one cookie? Rarely. It's not an addiction but it's similar, and he's far from alone. Kessler's research suggests millions share what he ...

CHICAGO - A sperm donor passed on a potentially deadly genetic heart condition to nine of his 24 children, including one who died at age 2 from heart failure, according to a medical journal report. Two children, both now teenagers, have developed symptoms and are at risk for sudden cardiac death, the report says. It's the second documented instance of a ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Terminally ill patients with less than six months to live will soon be able to ask their doctors to prescribe them lethal medication in Washington state. But even though the "Death with Dignity" law takes effect Thursday, people who might seek the life-ending prescriptions could find their doctors conflicted or not willing to write them. Many doctors are ...

What state spends the most on fast food? Or drinks the most soda? Or eats its vegetables? Check out this fun set of maps from the Daily Yonder that show how our diets differ by state and county. Who knew meat consumption was so concentrated on the coasts? There are more here. Via Ezra Klein. [photo:132842] GOOD is the integrated media ...

NEW YORK — The off-color jokes flew around the room. As the anecdotes got bawdier, the laughter intensified. Some recited from memory, others read from notebooks they brought along. The setting for the hilarity was the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center at Montefiore Hospital. The participants were cancer patients, some with advanced stages of the illness. They were taking part in the ...

If you're at all like me, while watching the nuclear crisis unfold at Fukushima, you've been really confused by the reports of levels of radiation released at the plants, and at various locations nearby. One report, for instance, says that "radiation levels near the stricken plant on the northeast coast reached as high as 400 millisieverts (mSv) an hour." But what ...

CHICAGO – This time, when the lanky young man stepped into the pool, his chest was tight. His muscles ached. He pushed off to take his first strokes, and grimaced at the pain. That he was back in the pool just six weeks after open heart surgery was quite remarkable, but he was still a bit crestfallen. He could only swim ...

Unexplained growth found in newborn's brain.

Student Vicki Larrieux cannot eat her five a day because she is frightened of vegetables. The 22 -year-old suffers from an unusual fear known as lachanophobia, which leaves her sweating and stricken with panic attacks at the merest sight of a sprout or a pea. Miss Larrieux, from Portsmouth, Hants, survives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals and an occasional ...

At first, Natasha Richardson said she felt fine after she took a spill on a Canadian ski slope. But that's not unusual for people who suffer traumatic head injuries like the one that killed the actress. Doctors say sometimes patients with brain injuries have what's called a "lucid interval" where they act fine for an hour or more as the brain ...

BASEL, Switzerland – Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG said Friday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations. The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said. The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu, also known ...

DAYTON - Rebecca Aygarn Talkie can't recall if she was fearful of undergoing open-heart surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital on Nov. 13, 1959. She was 4. But Talkie does remember being "very upset" at being placed in a crib, and jealous of a child who had more toys than her. Talkie, one of the region's first open-heart patients, was among the ...

DALLAS – Here are the seven secrets to a long life: Stay away from cigarettes. Keep a slender physique. Get some exercise. Eat a healthy diet and keep your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar in check. Research shows that most 50-year-olds who do that can live another 40 years free of stroke and heart disease, two of the most common ...

Cancer patients who rely on their strong religious faith to cope appear more likely to undergo intensive life-prolonging care before their deaths. Researchers evaluated 345 patients and categorized them as having a high or low level of positive religious coping based on a 14-item questionnaire. Their study is published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. Those with a ...

More people die in the U.S. in a single month from medical errors than died in the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Read this indepth investigative report and find out why.

A need unseen is often a need unmet, but many San Diegans opened their eyes wide this holiday season. They saw opportunities to turn their generous spirits into generous acts, especially as the economy sinks. These are only a few stories of giving, only a few of the people who stepped in when they noticed a need: a La Jolla ...