The onetime health food champion is an excellent source of protein, but it hasn't lived up to its earlier billing.

These days, the notion of a separate category of health foods seems just a little out of date. Those stores with the bulk bins and organic produce are increasingly overshadowed by upscale chains like Whole Foods. And at many regular supermarkets, the crunchy, good-for-you foods aren't as severely segregated into their own separate aisle or section. In fact, food and beverage companies are spending millions trying to persuade us that pretty much all of their products are healthful choices.

Maybe ...

A large European study finds fruits and vegetables are only modestly protective against cancer, but it's a different story for heart disease.

We've gotten used to flip-flops in health advice by now, but the recommendation to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables looked to be incontrovertible. Science seemed to support the folk wisdom about what an apple per day would keep away. Actually, make that five apples (or oranges or peaches or servings of arugula), because in 1990 the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that people eat five daily servings of fruits and vegetables (about 14 ounces worth) to prevent ...

Colon cancer is highly preventable, and many factors influence a person's risk. Diet and exercise, unsurprisingly, factor heavily.

UVA testing and ranking may be the most important change.

The wheels of government may turn slowly, but the FDA's proposed sunscreen regulations may set a record for slow-motion governance: the agency first proposed changes to sunscreen regulations in 1993. Delays have occurred as the FDA has wrestled with changing science, the finer points of testing and labeling requirements, and a flood of public comments. Critics say the agency has let the process drag out. New rules were finally scheduled to go into effect in May 2010, but the FDA postponed the target date to October 2010.

Here are a ...

Researchers are examining the possibility that at some point, depression may be objectively measureable through a retinal test.

Results of studies show that exercise or other physical activity has a beneficial effect on conditions ranging from mild cognitive impairment to Parkinson's disease.

Q. I read that President Obama had a virtual colonoscopy. Is this the colon cancer screening test that everybody should be getting instead of a regular colonoscopy? I thought it was kind of experimental.

A. You're right about the president having a virtual colonoscopy (which is a nickname; the more formal term is computed tomography colonography). Virtual colonoscopy isn't experimental, but it hasn't quite entered the mainstream, either. Experts have differing opinions about when and how it should be used. The American Cancer Society and other groups have endorsed it as an option for colon cancer screening, but the U.S. ...