Kids who are overweight are more likely than normal weight kids to be taking prescription drugs. As a result, we are raising a generation of kids more likely to have diabetes and heart problems as well as a dependency on pharmaceuticals to maintain their health.

You can strengthen your happiness quotient when you make your job play to your personal strengths.

Many of the junk foods we eat don’t do a body good. But if you want to protect your heart, medical research confirms there’s one common fruit that’s a champ at keeping arteries clear.

If you can never quite get enough done, a Japanese study suggests an unexpectedly effortless way to boost your focus and productivity.

Some doctors consistently get better results when they treat patients even when they dish out the same treatments as their colleagues. The reason: Research shows that doctors with a particular personality trait may be more successful at combating disease.

Natural chemicals in chocolate called flavonoids are so good at boosting memory and learning that even Canadian snails get smarter when they chow down on chocolate. An experiment on these mollusks shows that chocolate directly benefits the neurons that store memory.

Many video games encourage kids to sit like lumps while twiddling their thumbs on their controllers. But research into game systems requiring movement like the Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect shows some games can get kids on their feet and jumping around.

If your kids jump on a trampoline, they may soon be limping into line at the emergency room. A new report reveals that trampolines injure almost 100,000 children a year.

For the average, low-risk pregnancy, giving birth at home with a properly trained midwife standing by may be safer than a hospital birth. All the high-tech paraphernalia available in a hospital may actually put about-to-be-borns at risk. Doctors are too tempted to intervene in the birthing process. Those interventions can lead to unnecessary complications.

Savvy marketers know that giving foods cutesy names makes for better sales. And now the nutrition-minded folks are getting the message.

If there are farm fields outside your window instead of skyscrapers, you have a bigger chance of being seriously overweight. Research suggests that those who live in rural areas are more likely to be obese than their city-dwelling counterparts.

Stroke is the second leading cause of death. And if you’re a man whose parents divorced before you turned 18, your stroke risk triples.