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Researchers are making slow progress in understanding the numerous ailments that a growing number of people suffer after eating foods with gluten, a protein found in wheat.

Merck’s Plans: Merck said it plans to apply this year for FDA approval of suvorexant, an experimental treatment for insomnia, the WSJ reports. The drug, an orexin receptor antagonist, produced positive results in two later-stage studies that will be presented at scientific meetings this year, Merck said.

Bad Day For European Pharma: European drug makers AstraZeneca and Novartis reported setbacks yesterday, the WSJ reports. AstraZeneca said it would take a $380 million charge to stop development of experimental drugs for depression and ovarian cancer, which means 2011 profits are likely to come in at the low end of its previously forecast range, the paper says. Meantime, Novartis said potential safety problems with its hypertension drug Tekturna would likely hurt sales of the drug.

You might want to give your high-school student an extra helping of sweet potatoes or squash for Thanksgiving dinner.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms just how few fruits and vegetables high-school students are eating. More than a quarter of 10,765 students surveyed in the 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study don’t eat fruit every day, and a third don’t get their vegetables daily.

Food and beverage companies with a greater percentage of sales from so-called “better-for-you” products do better, financially, than their peers with less healthful fare, a new report finds.

The report is from the Hudson Institute and was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It looked at financial figures from 15 large food and drink companies between 2007 and 2011.

A few months back, the USDA announced it had scrapped the famous food pyramid and replaced it with a plate as a way of conceptualizing the government’s advice on diet.

As will happen with this kind of thing, myplate.gov won praise but also some criticism.

To address some perceived flaws, experts from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Health Publications have unveiled their own iteration of the new icon, which they’re calling the Healthy Eating Plate.

Bill Clinton’s hamburger days are behind him, he says.

The former president now thinks of himself as a vegan, he tells CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, eschewing meat, dairy and eggs. (No word on whether he’s traded recipes with fellow Democrat and vegan Dennis Kucinich.)

The Health Blog has heard lots of anecdotal evidence about the effects of the kind of menu-labeling law that took effect in New York a few years back (and will go national under the health-care overhaul law). People tell us they never realized how many calories were in their daily Starbucks scone or Cosi sandwich until they saw the number posted in black and white.

Maybe it’s because dinner is only an hour away, but some of the winners of the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s annual Xtreme Eating Awards actually sound pretty good.

Take the Denny’s Fried Cheese Melt, for example. Four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese on sourdough, plus a side of fries, would go down fairly easy right now, especially with a Cold Stone Creamery PB&C (for peanut butter and chocolate) shake as a chaser.