LOS ANGELES -- Southern California prepared Thursday for a scorching weekend that could see temperatures hit 120 in the deserts as a massive heat wave rolled through the West, authorities said. The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings through Sunday night for some areas from Santa Barbara County south to the Mexican border. Forecasters expected a high of 93 in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday and triple-digit temperatures elsewhere in areas -- even above 5,000 feet in the mountains....

With record-breaking heat recently baking the Western United States, winter cold is probably the last thing on your mind. But if you're thinking about your heart health, it should be. More people die from heart disease and heart attack during the winter months, possibly due to the way cold weather interacts with body fat, according to a new mice study published in the journal Cell Metabolism. (MORE: 7 Simple Factors That Shorten Your Life) The key is brown fat, or...

Warm weather is generally thought to be good for your heart. But not if you're consistently eating the wrong foods all season long. Enter the Long John Silver's Big Catch meal, which packs 1,320 calories and more trans fat than you should eat in two weeks. Thanks to these heart-damaging fats, the nonprofit advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest recently named the Big Catchthe worst restaurant meal in America. (ABOVE: The CSPI'sFull List of the Worst...

From the opening day of baseball season through the last Labor Day barbecue, American summer gatherings and sporting events are all about the hot dog. Last year, we shelled out $1.7 billion on hot dogs in just supermarkets. More than 20 million hot dogs are expected to be consumed in Major League Baseball parks alone this year, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. As far as summertime foods go, hot dogs aren't that bad for your health,...

A woman in Germany developed what looked like frostbite on her nose, ears and legs, even though she had not been exposed to extremely cold temperatures, according to a new report of her case. Her skin developed black regions, made up of damaged skin tissue, which appeared over several days. The heating system in her house had failed for a few days, and outside temperatures dropped to 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), the report said. Doctors diagnosed the woman...

Extreme summer heat can be deadly. Last year, 32 Americans died in one two-week period because of a fast-moving heat wave, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it doesn't take a heat wave for the weather to be dangerous to your pet. Small temperature differences can make a big impact on your pet's health, especially if you don't care for your furry friends properly. (MORE: Summer Danger: Extreme Nighttime Heat) Here's how to take care...

Two more people have died from MERS, which stands for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Saudi Arabian officials announced on Saturday. This brings the total number of fatalities to 44, 38 of which occurred in Saudia Arabia. (MORE: ) Health experts met at the World Health Organization in Cairo to standardize an approach to MERS treatment. They said that countries should enhance surveillance for acute respiratory illness, quickly investigate clusters of pneumonia and report confirmed or probable MERS cases within...

If the thought of spiders makes your skin crawl, you might find it reassuring that the chances of being bitten by a spider are smaller than you imagine, recent research shows. (ABOVE: What Bit Me? Identifying Bugs and Their Bites) Most so-called "spider bites" are not actually spider bites, according to researchers and several recent studies. Instead, "spider bites" are more likely to be bites or stings from other arthropods such as fleas, skin reactions to chemicals or infections, said...

A woman tested positive for a serious fungal infection, but wasn't actually infected — instead, her test results stemmed from eating ice pops containing a certain food additive, according to a case report. (MORE: 'Frostbite' at 50 Degrees?) The tests said the patient had aspergillosis, a dangerous infection caused by mold, butdoctors couldn't find any other symptoms. A CT scan didn't find any trace of the fungus in the patient's body, and blood samples didn't contain the fungus, either. Mysteriously,...

The Center for Science in the Public Interest publishes two annual lists: The FDA-regulated foods most likely to give you a foodborne illness, and the USDA-regulated meats most likely to give you a foodborne illness. See which foods are most likely to make you sick here. (Thinkstock/Jupiterimages) A total of five people are ill and one is dead because of a strain of the foodborne illness listeria, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting. The outbreak is...

Thanks to hot summer weather and sunny days spent by the pool or beach, summer is the season of the stomach. And though magazine stands across America make it seem like we all have the time (and will) to sculpt six-pack abs, we know that’s not really the case. Luckily, there are a few flat-belly guidelines you can follow – with a few toning moves thrown in for extra credit – that can keep your feeling light and lean all...

A tiny American territory in the South Pacific – known for fierce tropical cyclones and an active submerged volcano – is the most-obese country in the world based on obesity incidence. About 75 percent of American Samoa's 70,000 residents weigh in with a body mass index greater than 30, the global standard for obesity measurement,according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook. Among the world's largest countries, Mexico just surpassed the United States as the most obese, according to a...