Fitness monitoring: gimmick or game-changer for the NHS?

Many people now gather data about their own bodies on personal trackers, but the jury is still out on their accuracy and effectiveness

The chicken shop mile and how Britain got fat

With cheap and fattening food everywhere, there has been a shape shift that means people do not recognise obesity when they see it in the mirror

Can smartphone drug trials improve medical care?

A new clinical trial is attempting to track how participants suffering from depression respond to mental health apps

The GPs’ guide to how much you really drink – cartoon

New advice from UK medical officers suggests adults should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol a week

Cancer patient mother says she would have kept her baby ‘in my tummy’

Heidi Loughlin says she would not have chosen to deliver baby 12 weeks early to undergo chemotherapy had she known daughter would not survive

Mindfulness: the craze sweeping through schools is now at a university near you

Even Cambridge is offering sessions to combat an increase in student stress. But is mindfulness, as some critics insist, just a silly fad?

Zika virus likely to spread throughout the Americas, says WHO

Drug companies evaluate existing vaccine technology as only Canada and Chile expected to be free of mosquito-borne disease

Cirrhosis: how dangerous is drinking?

Most of us who drink alcohol won’t die from liver disease – but it still kills more of us than diabetes and road deaths combined

Unilever boss warns UK against sugar tax

Paul Polman says the tax is ‘not the holy grail’ and there is little evidence around the world such a levy can actually tackle Britain’s obesity crisis

Why bingeing on health foods won’t boost your immune system

There are only two ways the human body can deal with invading pathogens and infections – and neither involves vitamins or ‘superfoods’