Debbie Koenig

2 weeks ago | webmd.com | Debbie Koenig

May 21, 2025 — Until recently, you probably hadn’t thought much about fluoride. It’s been added to public water supplies since the 1940s to help prevent cavities. The CDC named water fluoridation one of the “10 Great Public Health Achievements” of the 20th century. Now headlines are calling its safety into question. In January, a large study review linked high doses to lower IQs in children. This spring, Utah and Florida banned fluoride in drinking water.

3 weeks ago | webmd.com | Debbie Koenig

May 14, 2025 — Even health-conscious WebMD readers can be fooled at the grocery store. Sure, you read the Nutrition Facts and compare products. But your brain is also absorbing cues from the food packaging, and those cues influence your choices more than you think. We are all “cognitive misers,” said marketing expert Dipayan Biswas, PhD, a professor at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. “We only use our brain as much as we have to.

1 month ago | medscape.com | Debbie Koenig

Health concerns have swirled around low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCSs) for more than a century. Even now, research findings regularly contradict each other. Despite low certainty overall, in 2023, the World Health Organization suggested they not be used “as a means of achieving weight control or reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases.”There wasn’t enough proof of long-term benefits to justify the risk.

1 month ago | webmd.com | Debbie Koenig

April 28, 2025 – The U.S. government is planning to phase artificial dyes out of the food supply – and it's reigniting public concern over potential health risks linked to these additives, like behavioral problems and hyperactivity in children. Right now, eight dyes are approved for use by the FDA: Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, Citrus Red 2, Orange B, and Green 3.

1 month ago | webmd.com | Debbie Koenig

April 14, 2025 — If you heard that Girl Scout cookies are toxic, that mRNA vaccines can harm you, or that immigrants are spreading tuberculosis in the U.S., maybe you should put down your phone. You’ve been exposed to a dangerous and contagious epidemic: health misinformation. But don’t worry, there are ways to protect yourself. Many of us have a built-in trust of the media.