Being out of shape will soon cost Alabama state government employees. Overweight or otherwise unhealthy employees have been given a deadline to work on getting fit or start paying $25 a month for their health insurance.

Currently, state employees don't pay a health insurance premium

Children who are exposed to pet dogs, cats or other furry friends at home can develop problem snoring when they grow up, a new study has revealed. Heavy snoring has been linked to early death, heart disease and stroke, not to mention the obvious problems of sleep deprivation for the snorer and their partner.

Karl Franklin, the study's lead author and a physician at University Hospital here, analyzed sleep habits and other childhood hospitalizations of men and women aged 25 to 54 -- all residents of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Estonia -- and got responses from 15,556

Adult obesity rates increased in 37 American states in the past year despite various government campaigns warning about the health risks posed by being overweight, according to a new report.

The fifth annual report released Tuesday by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) says that more than 25 percent of adults are now obese in 28 states, up from 19 states last year

Early research suggests that children with a history of severe ear infections or tonsil trouble are at an increased risk of becoming overweight later in life.

Children who get recurrent otitis media suffer damage to the nerves controlling taste and such infections may affect food choices, the researchers said at the 116th annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston

Exercising won't help people avoid gaining weight if they consume foods containing monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as a flavor enhancer, researchers found.

A study done by scientists at the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill School of Public Health found that people who consumed foods containing MSG were more likely than people who didn't use it to be overweight, even if the two groups exercised the same amount of time and consumed the same number of calories