Food and Drug Administration

A new wave of self-monitoring devices and apps is hitting the Consumer Electronics Show — ones with explicit medical purposes. They promise to help diagnose everything from ear infections to diseases.

The flavors may be sweet, but it's still tobacco. That's why tobacco control advocates are trying to restrict sales of candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco products, which they say lure in teenagers.

Smartphone apps can help count calories or detect a heart attack. People are embracing them to manage many aspects of their health. But medical apps are largely unregulated now, so there's no easy way to be sure which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren't.