"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health," the ABA said.

"In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages."

A type of bacteria mostly found in raw chicken meat that can cause diarrhea and fever is on the rise in the European Union, according to a report from European food safety agencies published on Thursday.

The report found that cases of Campylobacter rose by seven percent to 212,064 in 2010 -- the last year for which such data is available and the fifth consecutive year of increases in reported cases of the bacteria in humans.

What does birth control really cost anyway?

It varies dramatically, from $9 a month for generic pills to $90 a month for some of the newest brands — plus a doctor's visit for the prescription.

A new study shows that people living in areas where uptake of HIV treatment is high are less likely to acquire the virus than in places where few are given care, UNAIDS said Thursday.

The research by the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies marks the first time that the positive impact of antiretroviral therapy on infection rates has been proven for a community, said the U.N. agency.

About 13 million people living in west and central Africa face a major food crisis unless immediate action is taken, humanitarian group Oxfam warned Thursday.

A dangerous combination of drought, high food prices, reduced harvests, poverty and conflict are driving an emerging crisis across several nations including Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and northern Senegal, the group said.

About 1,000 women die each day in childbirth or from preventable complications related to pregnancy, humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said Thursday.

"Worldwide, at any time, 15 percent of pregnancies incur the risk of a potential fatal complication," said Kara Blackburn, responsible for women's health at MSF in a statement to mark International Women's Day.

Married adults are more than three times more likely to survive the critical first three months after heart surgery than their single counterparts, according to a U.S. study released Wednesday.

"That's a dramatic difference in survival rates for single people, during the most critical post-operative recovery period," said sociologist Ellen Idler, lead author of the study in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

The most widely prescribed drug to treat mild Alzheimer's disease, Aricept (donepezil), has been shown for the first time to help patients with more severe cases too, a study said Wednesday.

The research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Alzheimer's Society, and received donated pills from the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-Eisa and Lundbeck but drug makers were not otherwise involved.

Scientists are reporting what could be very bad news for efforts to customize cancer treatment based on each person's genes.

They have discovered big differences from place to place in the same tumor as to which genes are active or mutated. They also found differences in the genetics of the main tumor and places where the cancer has spread.

More work needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including creating smoking bans and increasing taxes on tobacco products to deter youth, the U.S. Surgeon General's office said in a report released Thursday.

The report said it's particularly important to stop young people from using tobacco because those who start smoking as teenagers can increase their chances of long-term addiction. They also quickly can develop reduced lung function, early heart disease and other health problems.