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Major league ballplayers are nearly always treated well by their handlers and organizations, which see to it that their concerns are addressed to their satisfaction. And when that concern happens to be the Zika virus, you can bet that if they want to steer clear of even the smallest possible risk of exposure that is exactly what will happen. And it just did.

There can't be a more horrible offense than the sexual exploitation of children. Researchers in Sweden are investigating whether chemical castration could work as a preventive approach, rather than as treatment after the damage is done.

Since there's no known cause for the majority of ALS cases, any new (even bad) research is widely cited. A new study in JAMA Neurology claims to find a link between five chemical compounds and the disease, but it's just a loose correlation coupled with other confounding data. It all should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Scientists at MIT have developed a type of "second skin" which behaves similarly to your own epidermis. This material has both cosmetic and medical value, through aesthetic improvements as well as local drug delivery.

It's not just the overly large infants of diabetic or obese moms who will have a propensity to be obese. A new study suggests that even babies born at normal weights could be at risk of being overweight or obese by age 10 if their moms gained too much weight, or had higher than normal blood glucose during pregnancy.

All exercise is good exercise, so why isn't weightlifting more popular? It may be because of off-putting, fringe cult mentalities like CrossFit -- but that shouldn't deter you. It is known that when performed correctly, muscle strengthening activity is safe, and large gains in muscle mass are unlikely.

A malaria vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have been able to successfully induce, and maintain immunity, in over half their subjects. This development provides added hope for preventing malaria.

"Natural is better." That pervasive and pernicious myth, despite being soundly refuted by things like arsenic and hemlock and rattlesnake venom, has become a mainstay in 21st Century conventional wisdom. Who needs Western medicine when the Chinese have been eating and boiling weeds for 3,000 years?

A recent study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, claims the cost-effectiveness of providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to individuals who engage in injected drug use. Outside of a controlled clinical setting, however, this would not be a wise public health choice.

Calls to poison control centers have increased along with popularity of e-cigarettes. Is that alarming? It is to the New York Times but kids 2 and under account for 53 percent of medicine-related calls to poison centers, which are far more dangerous.

ACSH advisers Greg Conko and Henry Miller have sage wisdom for how to reform regulations so they help in the modern era.

Chipotle says it will “actually misinform the public” to warn the public about getting ill in their stores. The CDC disagrees.

A large fraction of studies on humans at major academic centers listed on clinicaltrials.gov are never reported. Over one-third never come to light, and many others take far too long. This leads to a distortion of science-based public health.

It's easy to be led astray by trusting to logic when evaluating health advice. But sometimes logic is borne out by science, as in the case of a recent study of prevention of knee arthritis by weight loss in overweight and obese women.

Compounding pharmacies are part of a Justice Dept. probe for healthcare fraud. One involves Aspire Rx, which makes a pain cream called Rx Pro that's promoted by Favre, the former NFL great. The investigation comes amidst a backdrop of recent hazardous practices that have led to many deaths and a range of disabilities.

A new study of older American men with low testosterone levels, and some symptoms of it, benefited from testosterone supplementation. Not all the studied parameters improved, but most did, including sexual function.

Dietary cholesterol, especially eggs, have often been demonized as a source of high blood cholesterol levels, and thus taboo for people with an elevated risk of heart disease. But a recent study once again gives dietary cholesterol, and eggs, a clean bill of health.

Those brownish black spots on fully ripe bananas may unlock a faster diagnosis of skin cancer in humans, boosting survival chances.

Jennifer Sass of the NRDC takes issue with the evil empire known as Lumber Liquidators, claiming the company plays Russian Roulette with the health and well-being of our children by selling formaldehyde-spewing laminate flooring. Unfortunately, she cites flawed methodology, delivering only an alarmist rant.

Can people be motivated to change their behavior to improve their health? Encouraging weight loss by financially rewarding individuals isn't particularly effective. But a new study suggests that using a "stick," with fines that penalize inactivity, just might be more effective than a dangling the money "carrot."

As a young, active person, it never once occurred to me that at age 28 I would suffer from lower back pain. I avoid going to the movies and long car rides because I can't sit that long. And at its worst, I can barely make it through dinner before I have to stand up and stretch. I suffer from sciatica, and it's a real pain.

Though it may seem like it is recent, chemophobia has been building up for decades. Generations ago activists were using the language of scientists - possible, known, etc. - against science.

Chest pressure. Shortness-of-breath. Cold sweats. Individually, these symptoms could be signs of some minor health issue. Or taken together, they can be misdiagnosed signs of a heart attack especially if you re someone under 40.

There's nothing like a medical scare to bring out the kooks; Zika has done just that. And as facts pile up showing that Zika is causing microcephaly, so do the conspiracy theories. While a new CDC study gives solid evidence connecting the virus to birth defects, others think Bill Gates is a madman out to depopulate the world.

A new study of elderly Germans assessed the possible link between acid-blocking drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and new-onset dementia. A 44 percent increased risk of dementia was found among those on PPIs long-term, but no cause-and-effect link can be established based upon this study.