The Checkup: A New Way to Inhale Caffeine (Literally)

A new caffeine powder means a quicker jolt

If a cup of coffee doesn't provide a quick enough pick-me-up for you, you'll like this: A Harvard professor invented a caffeine inhaler of sorts, which dispenses puffs of lime-flavored caffeine powder for a faster-than-coffee jolt. It dissolves instantly on the tongue, where it's absorbed into the blood stream. Here's my favorite part: For an extra healthy kick, he souped up the stuff with a couple B vitamins because ... well, why the heck not? The AeroShot is due to hit shelves in select cities in January, but it'll be available online within the next several weeks. Get more info (with a...

The Checkup: Dentist Offers Cash for Candy

That’s one way to fight cavities

When I was a kid, my dentist would give me the hard sell about the importance of flossing and brushing in circular—not up-and-down—motions. At the end of every appointment, I could pick a plastic toy from the treasure chest, which I usually lost in the car by the time I got home. Never, ever did he offer money to bribe me out of getting cavities. But that's just what an Ohio dentist is doing this Halloween, offering kids a dollar for every pound of candy they turn in. When you break it down, it's kind of a rip-off, considering that a...

The Checkup: Las Vegas Eatery Hawks 8,000-Calorie Meal

And anyone clocking in at over 350 pounds gets to eat for free

The Heart Attack Grill is really living up to its name. On the menu of the new Las Vegas restaurant: larger-than-life burgers, lard-cooked fries and extra-butter-added milkshakes. Get all three—including the four-patty Quadruple Bypass Burger—and you're looking at an 8,000-calorie meal, the equivalent of what most people consume in a work week. And get this: The restaurant, which draws decor inspiration from the inside of an emergency room, allows anyone weighing over 350 pounds to eat for free. Only in Vegas, right? Read more right over here.

The Checkup: Would New Food Nutrition Labels Help You Eat Better?

I think not—but maybe I’m just too cynical

The Institute of Medicine, an organization that advises federal agencies on issues of medicine and health, recommended yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration and USDA start using an Energy Star-like rating system on food packaging to make consumers more easily aware of what they're eating, nutritiously speaking. The front-of-the-package label would issue a zero-to-three-points score, depending on a food's trans and saturated fats, sodium and added sugars; if the item contains too much of any of these, it would get no points. The nutrition labels you're used to would still remain on the back of food packaging for consumers...

The Checkup: Why Are We So Depressed?

Antidepressant use in the US has skyrocketed over the last two decades

New stats out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans' use of antidepressants is up 400 percent since 1988, making antidepressants the third most commonly prescribed drugs in the country. The other findings include: • Eleven percent of Americans over age 12 use antidepressants. • Women are 2.5 times more likely than men to take them. Nearly a quarter of women aged 40 to 59 take antidepressants, more than any other age group. • Less than a third of people taking the medications have seen a mental health professional in the past year. • Although the drugs can be used...

The Checkup: Michael Solomonov Ate Hundreds of Doughnuts

We crunched the caloric numbers. Naturally

Let's play a game, shall we? Take a wild guess as to how many calories in doughnuts chef Michael Solomonov consumed to prepare for the opening of his new Pennsport eatery, Federal Donuts. I'll give you a hint: It's between 1 and 104,000. Give up? Go over here to find out, and read the rest of today's health headlines while you're at it.

The Checkup: 100-Year-Old Marathoner Becomes Guinness Record Holder

A finish in Toronto on Sunday made Fauja Singh the oldest marathon runner ever

When Fauja Singh crossed the finish line of a marathon in Toronto on Sunday, he was in dead-last place. He finished more than six hours after the guy who placed first. But at 100 years old, Singh became the world's oldest marathoner, securing a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. This was Singh's eighth marathon. He ran his first at age—wait for it—89. And as if you couldn't love him any more, he likened finishing the Toronto race to getting married all over again. Read his inspiring story—and get the rest of today's health and fitness headlines—here.

The Checkup: New Website Compares Hospitals by Patient Deaths

This is absolutely news you can use

True, you don't always have the luxury of time to decide which hospital you'd like to go to. But in situations when you do, there's a new website that can help you make a more informed decision. The site, run by Medicare, allows patients to compare hospital facilities based on patient-safety information, including rates of avoidable deaths from, say, infection after surgery. Useful, right? Check it out—along with the rest of your Monday health headlines—over here.

Weight-Loss Plateaus, Spaghetti-less Spaghetti, Sister Power

Be Well Philly Office Challenge: A week in review

Have you been keeping up with our Be Well Philly Office Challenge? Today marks the halfway point of the eight-week health and fitness challenge, which is pitting local companies against each other to see which 10-person squad can lose the most weight. Earlier in the contest, we found out what our contestants' biggest food vices are (M&Ms, anyone?), and we've been posting weekly recipes for our contestants (and readers!) to try at home. This week, nutrition expert Maura Manzo, who designs the recipes, really threw down the culinary gauntlet: She created a spaghetti-less spaghetti dish—no, really. Some of our contestants were...