Fad diets are nothing new – people have been following them for two millennia. They are also little better than useless, so why do we keep following them? A new book looks back on 20 centuries of bingeing, purging, snake oil and strange ideas...

A link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer has been suggested by researchers in Sweden. They said eating an extra 50g of processed meat, approximately one sausage, every day would increase a person's risk by 19%. But the chance of developing the rare cancer remains low.

Dietary supplements occupy the broad, poorly regulated space between two more-defined kinds of consumables: foods and drugs. Because they can and sometimes do provide both nutrition without eating and wellness without medicine, supplements have acquired a new name in recent years: nutraceuticals. Time journalist, John Cloud, undertook a five-month regimen to test if they work or not - if health could be a set of tablets to take rather than a series of responsibilities to meet. A fascinating read...

When it comes to weight gain, it’s all about the calories. That might seem obvious, but popular diets continue to suggest that lowering or increasing certain dietary components — carbs or protein, say — is the key to weight loss. A clever new American study  shows, however, that it’s not what you eat but how much that matters when it comes to body weight. However, it's not quite as simple as that...

The need for better sleep and a growing appetite for liquid energy shots and health-related smartphone apps are among the top consumer health trends expected to make headlines in 2012, according to a leading national research group studying health-related attitudes and behaviour in America.

The holidays are a time of excess. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet. Or perhaps not. Unfortunately, we don't all have the self-discipline and determination it takes to cut back on cake and hit the gym. But fear not. There could be other ways to shift the fat and stay trim.

Breakfast cereals designed for kids have endured tomes of bad press, targeted by the food police as "sugar-salt laden food deserts/desserts" and who'd have us believe they have less nourishment than the box they're packaged in. This reputation is entirely undeserved, counters a leading American paediatrician, Dr Keith Ayoob, whose nutrition articles in USA Today are being acclaimed as a "breath of fresh air" by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). There’s no need to run from breakfast cereals, nor from food restaurants, believes Ayoob.

What causes cancer? New research from Cancer Research UK shows that 40% of cancers in women and 45% in men could be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. The report found more than 100,000 cancers each year in the UK are caused by four lifestyle factors - smoking, unhealthy diets, alcohol and people being too fat.