Popular commercial diets can help you lose some weight in the short term, but keeping the weight off after the first year and the diet’s impact on heart health are unclear, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

Here are three uncommon causes of hearing loss, according to hearmichigan.com: Low-frequency sounds: Things you can't hear can still do damage. A new study from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany revealed that listening to 90 seconds of low-frequency sounds can change the way your inner ear works for minutes after the noise ceases.

The costs associated with skin cancer increased five times as fast as treatments for other cancers between 2002 and 2011, according to a CDC study published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

A major new Series on health and ageing, published in "The Lancet", warns that unless health systems find effective strategies to address the problems faced by an ageing world population, the growing burden of chronic disease will greatly affect the quality of life of older people.

In 2005, the tobacco industry spent more than $1 million a day sponsoring events and giveaways targeting college students.

More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, with another 86 million more are on the verge of the disease. People with diabetes are nearly two times more likely than people without diabetes to die from heart disease, and are also at greater risk for kidney, eye and nerve diseases, among other painful and costly complications.

Berkeley, California became the first city in the nation to pass a tax on sugary drinks – part of an effort to combat obesity in the U.S., particularly among children. A similar effort failed in San Francisco.

As temperatures drop and consumers begin cranking up their heating systems, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have launched a new online toolkit to help local fire departments educate the public about the associated risks of carbon monoxide (CO) in the months ahead.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the EPA last week released plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change impacts such as flooding, sea level rise, severe weather and temperature extremes.