A surge in misinformation has grown with the internet, making wellness strategies appear to have scientific foundations when instead they're fueling baseless and sometimes harmful theories.
What's happening: Wellness products such as vitamins and supplements are under the purview of the Federal Trade Commission, meaning they are not subject to scrutiny or testing like prescription medication and medical devices, which are managed by the Food and Drug Administration.
Multinational corporate giant Unilever pledged this week that it will stop advertising food and drinks to children under 12 through traditional media, and kids younger than 13 on social media by the end of the year.
What they're saying: Citing the World Health Organization's alarm bell on childhood obesity, Unilever says that ice cream brand Wall's will not exceed 110 calories or contain more than 12g of sugar per portion.
Across China and other countries with some of the highest confirmed cases of the coronavirus, people celebrated Valentine's Day as they would any other year: buying flowers and other gifts, attending weddings and spending time with loved ones.
Where it stands: COVID-19 has now killed at least 1,527 people and in mainland China infected nearly 66,497 people, a number the CDC believes is underreported. There are more than 500 cases in 27 other countries and territories.
French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn confirmed on Saturday the death of a Chinese patient diagnosed with coronavirus in a Paris hospital, the first COVID-19 casualty outside of Asia.
The state of play: "I was informed last night of the death of an 80-year-old patient who was hospitalized ... since January 25 and who had a pulmonary infection from the coronavirus," Buzyn said.
Five public labs across the United States will work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use its existing flu surveillance network to test individuals with flu-like symptoms for the novel coronavirus, the agency said Friday.
The big picture: The labs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York City will evaluate negative influenza tests for COVIS-19, in preparation for spread across the U.S. The agency plans to expand to more labs.
The Trump administration violated federal law by allowing red states to impose work requirements on their Medicaid programs, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The court said the administration had not properly justified its decision, and that it was out of step with Medicaid's statutory goals.
What's next: The most likely next step is an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the administration has not won a single favorable ruling in lawsuits over what had once looked like one of its most significant health care policies.
Pedestrian and cyclist deaths are commonplace in American cities, but there weren't any last year in Oslo, Norway, or Helsinki, Finland. Dan and Axios' Sam Baker dig into what it would take to make our streets and sidewalks safer.
Health care was voters’ top issue in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and it benefitted Sen. Bernie Sanders as well as his more moderate rivals.
The big picture: Sanders has emerged as a national front-runner thanks in part to a base that’s deeply committed to his Medicare for All plan, even as polling data indicate that more moderate ideas like a public option have a broader base of support.
Scientists and doctors are exploring whether existing treatments for HIV, Ebola and malaria could combat the coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Driving the news: The antiviral remdesivir protected monkeys from MERS, another coronavirus, both before and after exposure, the National Institute of Health announced Thursday.
