African-Americans have a higher risk of kidney disease and type 2 diabetes, which contributes to a higher risk of heart disease. Dr. Griffin Rodgers, who is director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, says that people with a family history should be more concerned.  He says it’s a good idea to review who in the family had what condition.

Beta-amyloid protein builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients and experts consider it a likely marker of the disease.

But researchers at the University of California, Berkeley also have noticed something else. Susan Landau and William Jagust looked at brain images of older people with normal thinking ability, and at their reports of activities such as how much reading and writing they did at different ages.

New data show that compared to normal weight children, obese children have lower vitamin D levels. Prediabetes is a condition in which someone is thought to be at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Lighting up has never seemed so uncool. Data shows that fewer and fewer middle and high school students are exposed to smoke on the road. But 1 in every 5 non-smoking youths is still exposed to second hand smoke in the car.