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Cholesterol levels in children and teens improved in the latest analysis of U.S. health surveys, yet only half of them had readings considered ideal. Overall, 7% of kids had high cholesterol in surveys from 2009 to 2016. That was down from 10% a decade earlier. In children, high levels mean 200 or above and ideal measures are below 170. The results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Tanner, 5/21)

Neither egg consumption nor dietary cholesterol are associated with an increased risk for stroke, researchers report. Their analysis, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, used health and diet data on 1,950 Finnish men ages 42 to 60. Over 21 years of follow-up, there were 217 strokes. On average, the men ate about four and a half eggs a week and consumed 408 milligrams of cholesterol a day. (Bakalar, 5/22)

Skipping breakfast before exercise might reduce how much we eat during the remainder of the day, according to a small but intriguing new study of fit young men. The study finds that the choice to eat or omit a meal before an early workout could affect our relationship to food for the rest of the day, in complicated and sometimes unexpected ways. (Reynolds, 5/22)

Mississippi lawmakers were giving Weight Watchers $1.5 million for a program that never appeared in any education funding bills or state contracts, just one example of how state legislators have been funneling education funding to favored vendors. The Clarion Ledger reports that since 2016, top lawmakers have mandated that the Mississippi Department of Education spend up to $45 million on specific programs. Of that, nearly $10 million was earmarked not just for programs but for 13 select vendors. (5/21)