What causes high cholesterol?

The science of food allergies

Why do certain substances trigger an immune response while others don't? Listen to researchers explain the science in this five-minute video. Food allergies affect around 8% of children and 2% of adults in the US, and—unlike sensitivity or intolerance—they involve the immune system mistaking certain harmless proteins in foods as dangerous invaders, triggering a rapid and sometimes severe defense response.

Why processed foods can be so addictive

In recent years, many critics have voiced their concerns about the food industry and how ultra-processed foods affect our health. Despite our awareness of these issues, processed foods are still incredibly hard to remove from our diet. In this podcast by The Guardian, Dr. Chris van Tulleken explains how “junk food” is created to get us hooked, how it negatively affects us, and what we can do to improve our eating habits.

Learn how colorectal cancer is linked to the American diet and chronic inflammation

A University of South Carolina colon cancer researcher offers insights from his own research and notes that more exercise, social support, and eating fruits, vegetables, legumes, and foods like fish and olive oil—often called the Mediterranean diet—are associated with better health—and could improve our colons.

How understanding a balanced diet can help you make good food choices

Eating a balanced diet—which includes a variety of foods from all food groups—is important for optimal health. It is also recommended to avoid ultra-processed foods, such as frozen meals, fast foods, soda, and flavored yogurt. The simplest way...

Eggshell color doesn't indicate taste or superiority

Brown, white, and blue eggs taste and cook identically. Despite popular notions that brown eggs are superior, the shell color reflects the genetics of the hen alone. What actually determines egg quality is freshness and the diet of the hen (where grass and leafy greens lead to denser yolks). And freshness can go both ways: older eggs peel more easily than fresh ones.

Targeting cholesterol metabolism may help address macular degeneration

Research published in 2025, based on human plasma samples and mouse models, indicates that boosting the levels of a molecule called apolipoprotein M in the blood can improve cholesterol processing, helping prevent some cellular damage that contributes to age-related macular degeneration.

Restaurants are ramping up chicken dishes in 'The Great Chickening'

For decades, consumption of poultry meat has been on the rise in the US. Even more recently, restaurants have been focused on using the bird, citing its reliability, versatility, and the rising cost of beef. Nonetheless, avian flu has caused prices to fluctuate.

Women are born with all the eggs they will ever produce in their lifetime

Girls are born with an estimated 1 million to 2 million eggs in their bodies, but around 10,000 die monthly before puberty. Scientists have not yet figured out why there's such an excessive number of eggs prior to menstruation, but they've calculated that there are roughly 300,000 to 400,000 eggs left at puberty.

What's your ACE score, and what does that mean for your health?

An ACE score is a way of measuring adverse childhood experiences, which can negatively impact health outcomes. Take this quiz to determine your score and what that means for your health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser...

Diabetes 101: Insulin deficiency leads to high glucose levels in the blood

Glucose, the brain's preferred energy source, enters the bloodstream when the body breaks down consumed carbohydrates. To manage this increase in readily available energy, the body releases the hormone insulin, which allows glucose to enter and fuel our cells. Without insulin, glucose remains in the blood, causing health issues.

From 'Yankee cheddar' to American cheese

From "Yankee cheddar" to Kraft Singles, American cheese has a long history shaped by innovation and economics. Originally a cheddar export, it evolved into the processed slices we know today—thanks to a 1916 patent. And in the 1980s, it became “government cheese,” distributed to millions.

Chocolate can be deadly in humans, but only after consuming extraordinary quantities

Based on tests with mice, the lethal dose of chocolate is estimated to be no more than 1,000 mg/kg. This means that the lethal dose of dark chocolate for the average US adult is about 6.5 kilograms (14.33 pounds), or about 8,300 Hershey's kisses, in one sitting.

Chronic stress affects nearly all parts of the body

Stress is our body’s internal mechanism to deal with changes in our internal balance. As such, the stress response affects nearly every organ system through a cascade of both fast and slow hormonal changes. While short-term stress can be adaptive, long-term stress may cause serious health issues.

America's top causes of death are heart disease, cancer, accidents, and stroke

Heart disease killed more than 680,000 people in 2023 and cancer killed around 613,000 people that year. Both causes of death are far above the next leading cause of death—accidents, which numbered around 223,000. Provisional data for 2024 indicates the leading causes of death remained the same.

Foods shouldn't be defrosted on the counter, but microwaving to defrost is okay

This wide-ranging video from the US Food and Drug Administration explains causes of food poisoning and tips for consumers. The agency's advice includes that we should separate meat and eggs from our veggies and fruits in our shopping carts, during food prep, and in the fridge (with meat located below veggies in the refrigerator in case it drips).

Yes, you can take too many vitamins and they can make you sick

Too much of vitamins A, D, E, and K (which are fat-soluble) can build up in the body and cause serious health problems, including liver damage, kidney stones, and blood clotting irregularities. Excess iron and calcium can also make it harder for the body to absorb other needed nutrients.

What should you eat to help the climate?

Climate change is impacted by what we eat and what we don't eat. Did you know, for instance, that livestock accounts for 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year? Eating less meat and dairy and more protein-rich plants like beans,...

Estrogen is a really important hormone for men, too

Many people may be familiar with the idea that too much estrogen can cause infertility and other complications, including erectile dysfunction, but too little estrogen is also a significant medical concern because it can result in a reduced sex drive and limit overall growth.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

How do we know what prehistoric humans ate?

Without recourse to ancient menus, how can historians know what our ancient human ancestors—as far as 3 million years ago—ate on a daily basis? Researchers evaluate several factors, including the type of teeth the species had evolved, chemical analysis of the teeth, patterns of wear and tear on teeth, as well as food scraps found in the vicinity of ancient remains. Learn the approach to discovering ancient hominin diets.

Collagen supplements typically come from animal sources like fish, pigs, or cattle

Eating collagen-rich foods won't lead to more collagen in the body because your digestive system breaks down consumed collagen into amino acids. Instead, eating a healthy diet of proteins and greens helps your body to produce collagen. Collagen supplements derived from animal skin and bones are typically sold in a prebroken-down peptide formulation called hydrolyzed collagen so they can be absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream.

Traditionally, a glut of unused eggs during Lent would be decorated at Easter

That's how the tradition started, at least in the more orthodox (or strict) branches of Christianity, which didn't eat meat, dairy, or eggs the whole period. By the end, there was more than could be eaten, so decorations ensued.

Coffee is, generally, good for your health

While overconsumption certainly has its drawbacks—hello, not sleeping until the sun rises—on the whole, coffee is fine, even beneficial, for your health. It can even help prevent serious health conditions, like heart attacks and liver cancer.

Why Americans keep buying McMansions

Some argue that McMansions—large, relatively newly built, amenity-filled, cookie-cutter homes—are ugly. Others say they're just not a good investment. And yet Americans continue buying them. This video explores why McMansions are still popular despite these criticisms, and how these homes got their start in the first place. Watch the video here.

Scleroderma, which causes skin to harden and scar, has no FDA-approved treatment

It's an autoimmune disease that disproportionately causes worse complications in African American people for unknown reasons. It causes the body to overproduce collagen after the immune system attacks the body's own connective tissue, leading to excess collagen deposits and restricted blood circulation as small blood vessels are damaged. It can damage various organs, including the lungs.

Xylitol, a sugar alcohol, is sometimes added to foods at 1,000 times the level seen naturally in foods

This article covers the latest research in sugar alcohols and heart health. Some work indicates that after consuming sugar alcohols erythritol or xylitol people are at an elevated risk of developing blood clots, which can cause heart attacks and strokes. Both substances occur in low levels naturally in fruits and vegetables and are also produced by the human body, but as sweeteners in foods they are present at exponentially higher levels.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

Ebola infects and disables immune cells, triggering a cascade of events that leads to small blood clots throughout the body, weakening blood vessels and interrupting blood flow to key organs.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—microorganisms that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.