Kratom faces scrutiny over health risks

People who drink bottled water may be getting more than just hydration, some researchers claim. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that each bottle of water can contain hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics, which are tiny particles of plastic below 1 micrometer, measured in billionths of…

NEW YORK (AP) — More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses. While many experts say this season likely won’t prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could mean hundreds of thousands…

The Texas Supreme Court permanently blocked a judge’s ruling allowing a Texas woman to have an emergency abortion, just hours after her lawyers said she was forced to travel out of state for the procedure. The court’s seven-page ruling comes days after it temporarily blocked the judge’s decision to let Kate Cox have an abortion….

Smoking is notorious for causing damage to the lungs — but a recent study confirmed that it’s also harmful to the brain. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine (WashUMed) in St. Louis, Missouri, analyzed the brain scans, smoking history and genetic risk of 32,094 participants of European descent from the UK Biobank database….

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s latest spike in Covid cases may be starting to peak — but the public needs to stay up to date on vaccinations, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told CNBC on Thursday. Singapore reported 56,043 Covid cases in the week of Dec. 3 to 9, marking a 75% surge compared to the week…

Wearing hearing aids could increase life span, a new study has found.  Research by the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California found that people who wear hearing aids regularly had a 24% lower risk of mortality. The study, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity earlier this month, evaluated the history of…