Erin Prater

Stay informed with Erin Prater’s coverage and analysis for Fortune.

Three friends having fun in the public park

Adopting these 8 healthy habits by middle age could add decades to your life

Each year norovirus causes an average 900 deaths, 109,000 hospitalizations, 465,000 emergency room visits, and 19 to 21 million illnesses in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Norovirus causes up to 21 million illnesses in the U.S. every year. Here’s what to know about the contagious disease that hand sanitizer can’t kill

Smoothie bowl with fresh berries and granola

11 benefits of chia seeds from gut health to weight loss

By Erin Prater and Ani Freedman

Millennials are at twice the risk for colorectal cancer compared to Baby Boomers.

More Millennials and Gen Xers are getting colorectal cancer. Even young adults should watch for these 7 symptoms

mature adult man eating fresh vegetables and fruits

A study on the Mediterranean diet offers the strongest proof yet that it’s associated with healthy brain aging

A mature black man, exercising in a park in the morning.

Walking faster may help you live longer. Experts say to aim for this pace

Two women carrying yoga mats walk in a park

A group of women lowered their biological age by an average of 5 years in just 8 weeks. Here’s how

PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 13: Actor Matthew Perry of the television show ‘The Kennedys – After Camelot’ speaks onstage during the REELZChannel portion of the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on January 13, 2017 in Pasadena, California (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

What is ketamine, the drug responsible for ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry’s death?

Worried senion patient waiting for mri scan.

Prostate cancer shouldn’t be a death sentence. But for a startling number of U.S. males, it is

Phthalates can be found in “a broad swath” of consumer products, from personal care to food packaging. The exposure of pregnant women to such chemicals may be linked to preterm birth, Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics and population health at NYL Langone Health, tells Fortune.

Plastic-linked ‘hormone-disrupting chemicals’ were potentially behind 10% of U.S. preterm births in 2018, according to new research. How families can steer clear of their danger

Scientists aren’t sure if cannabis use leads to anxiety, or if anxiety symptoms in many cannabis users are pre-existing but underdiagnosed, prompting users’ attempt to self-medicate.

Heavy marijuana use may fuel anxiety disorders, new research finds. This age group is most at risk

U.S. President Joe Biden takes a selfie photograph with an attendee at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Mass., on Sept. 12, 2022. Biden's remarks on his administration's cancer moonshot, taking place on the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" speech, are aimed at the goal of ending cancer.

Public health advocates urge action on menthol, applaud accomplishments like patient navigation as Biden administration celebrates 2-year anniversary of ‘cancer moonshot’

SpaceX Falcon 9, topped with Crew Dragon spacecraft, blasts off for the International Space Station with the Axiom Mission 3 crew—Alper Gezeravci of Turkiye, Michael Lopez-Alegria of U.S.-Spain, Walter Villadei of Italy, and Marcus Wandt of Sweden—at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 18. Also on board were miniature tumor organoids produced from the cells of breast cancer patients, grown in the lab by scientists at the University of California San Diego. Scientists call the donor patients the “real heroes” of the research story.

Frustrated by the constraints of Earth, a team of California scientists took tumor research to space—and may have discovered a ‘kill switch’ for cancer

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, speaks to the media during a press conference with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, at the Government Buildings in Dublin on Dec. 18, 2023. Ghebreyesus spoke on the topic of the pandemic treaty Saturday at the Warwick Economic Summit in Coventry, England, attending virtually from Geneva. He called the treaty, currently in dispute my member nations, "mission critical for humanity."

WHO chief warns ‘future generations may not forgive us’ if pandemic treaty not agreed upon: ‘There will be a next time’

The impact of various environmental factors—like climate, nutrition, and toxicants—on the epigenome has been shown to extend tens of hundreds of generations in fruit flies and hundreds of generations in plants. It's unknown how far out it might extend in humans.

Toxic chemicals your grandparents were exposed to are likely affecting your health, new research claims. Here’s how it works