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Year-round sun protection helps prevent skin cancer and aging

Sun safety is always in season. It's important to protect your skin from sun damage throughout the year, no matter what the weather.

10 Sep 2026

Why a shorter eating window may not mean better metabolic health

In a nationally representative cross-sectional study of 16,973 Korean adults, researchers identified three distinct eating patterns based on the timing and distribution of daily energy intake. Eating later within a shorter daily window was associated with higher odds of metabolic syndrome, elevated blood pressure, triglycerides, and fasting glucose, while frequent grazing showed a mixed metabolic profile.

8 Sep 2026

Stevia tastes sweet, but does your body react as if sugar is coming?

In a randomized, double-blind crossover study, researchers tested stevia alone and with glucose in adults with normal weight, overweight, or type 2 diabetes to assess acute effects on blood glucose, insulin, gut hormones, appetite, and subsequent food intake. Stevia produced no significant changes in the measured glycemic or hormonal responses compared with water and did not significantly modify responses to glucose, while appetite and subsequent energy intake were also generally unchanged.

8 Sep 2026

Study finds weak evidence for post-hospital alcohol use disorder treatment

A systematic review by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz and Yale University found limited evidence that hospital-based interventions can help people with alcohol use disorder connect with outpatient treatment after they leave the hospital.

8 Sep 2026

Rice, seafood and water may help explain striking differences in metal exposure across US communities

Researchers compared urinary trace-metal profiles across 666 adults from six ethnic groups in three US cohorts, with up to 19 elements measured and paired serum measurements available for the Asian Indian MASALA cohort. Distinct metal patterns emerged across populations, with the findings suggesting that diet, drinking-water sources, regional hydrogeology, urban-rural conditions, smoking, and physiological handling may all contribute to differences in exposure profiles.

8 Sep 2026

A common drink pattern was linked to less sleep and more fatigue in soldiers

A cross-sectional study of 1,155 active-duty Spanish Army personnel identified three distinct co-consumption profiles based on the frequency of caffeinated beverage, energy drink, and sugar-sweetened beverage use. Compared with the lower-frequency profile, the higher-frequency profile was associated with about 14 minutes less sleep per night, lower sleep efficiency, and greater habitual physical fatigue, although the study cannot establish causality or quantify caffeine or sugar exposure.

8 Sep 2026

Could scorpion venom inspire new treatments for liver disease?

Scorpion venom peptides show promising anti-inflammatory, antiviral, analgesic, and immunomodulatory effects, with experimental evidence suggesting that some candidates could target pathways involved in chronic liver disease and viral hepatitis. The review highlights Kv1.3-blocking peptides and antiviral compounds as potential therapeutic leads, while emphasizing that limited hepatic efficacy data, poor pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and manufacturing challenges must be overcome before clinical translation.

8 Sep 2026

Could one amino acid help explain why men tend to live shorter lives?

A UK Biobank cohort and Mendelian randomization study involving 272,475 participants linked higher circulating tyrosine with greater all-cause mortality and genetically predicted higher tyrosine with shorter lifespan. After accounting for phenylalanine, the relationship with shorter lifespan was clearest in men, while findings in women were less consistent, suggesting a potential sex-specific role for tyrosine in longevity.

7 Sep 2026

GLP-1 drugs looked promising for depression. The evidence tells a more complicated story

A systematic review of 43 studies found highly heterogeneous results for GLP-1 receptor agonists across animal models and human research assessing depression-, anxiety-, and stress-related outcomes. No study directly tested these drugs as a treatment for PTSD, and the available evidence does not currently support their use for depression or PTSD, although people with metabolic dysfunction may warrant further investigation.

7 Sep 2026

Alcohol-free beer looks cheaper on the shelf, but the checkout tells a different story

A Great Britain analysis found that no/low-alcohol drinks were generally cheaper than regular-strength products on supermarket shelves and when equivalent products were compared directly. However, consumers paid more per serving for no/lo beer and about the same for cider, partly because these products were often sold in smaller, less cost-efficient packs.

6 Sep 2026

Psilocybin study explores new treatment for cocaine use disorder

Albert Arias, MD, chief of addiction psychiatry at Carilion Clinic, has received an award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to research how psilocybin, a psychedelic compound being studied for several psychiatric and substance use disorders, can offer a new approach for people with cocaine use disorder.

4 Sep 2026

Mental health warning labels prompt young people to limit screens

Pop-up messages that warn of the harms of social media - such as mental health consequences - have potential to reduce young people's social media use, a new Stanford Medicine study has found.

4 Sep 2026

Alcohol-linked cancer deaths doubled over three decades in America

Alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the U.S. doubled between 1990 and 2023, a new study found. The study also revealed that alcohol-linked cancer deaths are not limited to older adults or liver cancer.

2 Sep 2026

Why addiction researchers are paying closer attention to GLP-1 drugs

A Journal of Clinical Investigation Viewpoint highlights growing evidence that GLP-1 receptor agonists, particularly semaglutide, may reduce alcohol consumption and some other substance-related outcomes by acting on brain systems involved in reward, motivation, stress, and emotion. However, the authors caution that efficacy for substance use disorders is not yet firmly established and call for further research into optimal dosing, treatment duration, patient selection, mechanisms, and effects across different addictions.

2 Sep 2026

Post-trauma mental health conditions increase future cardiovascular risks

Mental health conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, depression and anxiety, can develop after people experience trauma.

2 Sep 2026

Coffee’s link to Parkinson’s risk may depend on how your body handles caffeine

In 435,551 UK Biobank participants followed for a median of 15.7 years, overall coffee consumption was not associated with Parkinson’s disease risk, but the relationship differed significantly according to CYP1A2 genotype. Lower risk was observed with low-to-moderate coffee intake among fast-metabolizer AA carriers, while higher intake was associated with increased risk among AC and CC carriers, although the observational findings do not establish causality and sex-specific patterns require cautious interpretation.

2 Sep 2026

Alcohol-related liver cancer deaths were falling. Then the trend reversed during the COVID-19 pandemic

A global analysis of GBD 2023 data found that alcohol-attributable liver cancer mortality increased modestly from 1990 to 2023, while mortality from alcohol-attributable cirrhosis, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, and alcohol use disorders declined. Liver cancer mortality shifted from a pre-pandemic decline to an increase during 2020–2023, particularly among women, although the researchers cautioned that the ecological analysis cannot establish that pandemic-related changes caused the reversal.

1 Sep 2026

Researchers found one childhood behavior linked to folic acid use before pregnancy

Researchers analyzed 646 children aged 2–8 years and their 563 mothers to examine whether maternal folic acid supplementation before conception was associated with childhood behavioral difficulties. Preconception supplementation was associated with a 34% lower risk of peer relationship problems, while no significant associations were found for total behavioral difficulties, emotional, conduct, hyperactivity/inattention, or prosocial problems.

1 Sep 2026

Blocking a key protein protects against metabolic liver damage

Obesity-related metabolic liver disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but only some fraction of those livers develop scarring, become inflamed, and eventually fail. University of Utah researchers have identified a protein, EFHD1, that appears to drive that transition by triggering an out-of-place antiviral immune response.

1 Sep 2026

Adolescent binge drinking causes lasting changes in brain function

New research from the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine provides insight into how binge alcohol exposure during adolescence may cause lasting changes in brain function that persist into adulthood, potentially identifying a new target for future treatment approaches.

1 Sep 2026