President George Bush on Wednesday approved $48 billion for fighting AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis around the world for next five years.

The amount authorized for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the successful U.S. global AIDS program, is $18 billion more than what Bush had requested. The measure will triple funding for these three diseases

People who have fat friends are more likely to put on some unwanted pounds as compared to people who have leaner friends, new research suggests. Calling it "imitative obesity," an international team including University of Warwick experts suggest fat friends can cause someone to put on weight too.

Researchers analyzed data on 27,000 people from across Europe and found that obesity is more of a sociological phenomenon than a physiological one, as people are subconsciously influenced by the weight of people around them

Gummy bears made with a sugar substitute could make cavity-causing bacteria keep away, researchers said.

Some 154 first to fifth graders were gathered from two elementary schools in the state of Washington. Their mouths were all checked for plaque and bacteria at the beginning of the experiment and six weeks after. Each pupil was given four gummy bears that contained either xylitol or maltitol three times a day

Allergies like dermatitis, hay fever and asthma have been linked by German scientists to a gene found in 8 percent of Europeans.

The study, released Wednesday, said the lack of the protein filaggrin is the reason behind skin allergies. It was based on observations by the Munich Helmholtz Center and the Technical University of Munich of 3,000 Munich school children

British Health Secretary Alan Johnson, in a major speech, has asked the public to be kinder to obese Britons.

In a major speech, Johnson said vilifying the overweight would not spur the obese to amend their behavior. He said a campaign to encourage healthy eating must be done in a more intelligent and less hurtful manner