Lately there has been a flurry of media reports focusing on America's obesity epidemic, and how costs associated with America's gradual shift to a fat society will inundate the already strapped budget in the form of shadow taxation and other direct and indirect costs, which are, to put it simply, unsustainable. As the first chart below shows, the primary cost center associated with the obese conditions - diabetes - has certainly gripped a substantial portion of the US population, at last count affecting at least 10% of the population.

Yet as chart #2 shows, America, with its $23.7 million diabetes cases, actually has it good. Because when compared to countries without a social safety net, such as China and India, the US diabetes problem is child's play. With 90 million diabetes cases in China, and 61.3 million in India, or nearly half of the total 346 million worldwide diabetes cases, perhaps it is time for the developing world to worry how they plan on funding the billions of associated costs, as they assimilate more and more of the worst American habits. Because as the International Diabetes Foundation says, "In developing countries, the looming costs in human lives, healthcare expenditure and lost productivity threatens to undo recent economic gains." However since all of this is in "the future" what's the point of worrying about it now...

American diabetes is bad...

Just as wealth and social status are often linked to good health in humans, the animal kingdom too has its benefits for those at the top of the hierarchy, according to a US study out Monday.

After studying 27 years worth of data on baboons in Kenya, researchers found that alpha males were less likely to get sick and recovered faster from injuries than those at the lower rungs of society.

The findings were a surprise, since previous research has shown that high-ranking males face surging stress levels and often mate so regularly as to weaken their immune function.

The study authors believe that their research shows the type of stress faced by lower-ranking males - chronic stress, old age, poorer physical condition - might actually be behind the health differences in the two groups.

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will consider allowing an anti-HIV drug to be promoted to otherwise healthy, HIV-free people as a purely preventative measure for the first time. If approved, Gilead Sciences will be able to market Truvada to anyone who might be considered "at risk" for contracting the disease based on lifestyle and other factors (such as sexual orientation). Normally, HIV-infected patients take Truvada to slow viral replication. Under the new guidelines, doctors would begin openly touting this therapy as a glorified prophylactic to people who do not have HIV based on fear they might contract it someday (and all at the low price of just $14,000 a year).

According to Truvada's own website, treatment side-effects may include lactic acidosis, a serious medical condition that can lead to death. Truvada patients can suffer impaired kidney function and "serious liver problems" such as enlargement and hepatotoxicity. In lab tests, Truvada has also been shown to cause osteopenia or changes in bones that make them more susceptible to fractures.

After a recent trip to the juice bar at the Naples Whole Foods - a place, mind you, I usually avoid at all costs because they don't explicitly label the ingredients in their prepared foods as being certified organic - I allowed my good judgment to be euthanized by the sweet-sounding clerk's assurance that they use "mostly organic" ingredients, with the highly non-binding qualification: "whenever possible."

Of course, my main concern with not buying 100% organic juice is the greater likelihood that the produce was grown in factory-farmed animal manure, or raw-human sewage, which is a breeding ground for serious, even deadly pathogens, and which may contaminate both the food grown in it, and the people who consume the contaminated food.

But, a battery of factors conspired against what I would like to consider my better judgment: 1) being fatigued by the morning outing at the Zoo. 2) knowing our favorite organic juice bar (at Food & Thought) was taking a much deserved day of rest. 3) being in the company of less "neurotic" and equally exhausted child-towing company ... I just decided to shut up and give it a shot.

And so, with all my pre-purchase doubts happily behind me I sat down to an already half-consumed glass of raw vegetable juice, only to discover the following warning sticker staring back at me, declaring in CDC-speak that I had just engaged in highly risky, if not downright dangerous behavior:

"WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and, therefore, may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly and persons with weakened immune systems." ~ Whole Foods Market

And then, to my dismay, I noticed that my sweet 3 year old daughter's Whole Foods Almond Milk Smoothie also bore the same terrible warning, which needless to say was giving me a bit of indigestion as I contemplated the implications of the statement further.

Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study by Yale School of Medicine researchers shows that oxytocin - a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body - increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

A Yale Child Study Center research team that includes postdoctoral fellow Ilanit Gordon and Kevin Pelphrey, the Harris Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, will present the results on May 19 at the International Meeting for Autism Research.

"Our findings provide the first, critical steps toward devising more effective treatments for the core social deficits in autism, which may involve a combination of clinical interventions with an administration of oxytocin," said Gordon. "Such a treatment approach will fundamentally improve our understanding of autism and its treatment."

New research out of the University of California, Los Angeles has found that aside from the health risks already associated with high-fructose corn syrup, long term diets heavy in the sugary substance could actually result in a decline in memory and learning ability. Thankfully, this study wasn't purely bad news, as it revealed that this can actually be counteracted by eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

There are many ways to introduce higher levels of these crucial fatty acids into one's diet, including relatively inexpensive supplements, flaxseed (which is available in ground, milled and/or in oil form) delicious nuts (the most omega-3 rich being walnuts), salmon and many other delicious foods.

Considering the dangers associated with genetically modified foods, which, like high-fructose corn syrup, are present in many mass-produced processed foods, in addition to the dangers associated with high-fructose corn syrup, never before have we had more reasons to seek out healthier alternatives. The research - published in the Journal of Physiology - was conducted on rats, a common subject for analog studies, especially dealing with the brain since the brain chemistry of rats is similar to that of humans.

What would you do if your 3-year old son was stricken with brain cancer? Most parents wouldn't think twice about bringing their child to a mainstream doctor, only to undergo modern-day cancer 'treatments' such as chemotherapy. This is what one father, Mike Hyde, from Montana did when his 3 year old was diagnosed with brain cancer, but the father doesn't attribute his sons victory against cancer with the use of chemotherapy or any other mainstream treatment; the dad actually says marijuana oil is what made the young boy beat cancer. While the story isn't recent, it is one that everyone should hear about.

Marijuana Oil Helps 3-Year-Old Son Beat Cancer

In May of 2010, radiologists at Community Medical Center in Missoula, Mont., discovered a stage 4 brain tumor in a 20-month-old boy named Cash. Shortly after the tumor was discovered, the toddler was brought to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was placed in intensive care. It was recommended that Cash receive three cycles of chemotherapy, only to be followed by another 3 cycles of high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue. The boy would also receive 'max amounts' of anti-nausea pharmaceutical medications.

"After his first round of high-dose chemo in August 2010, he no longer ate anything, and this went on through September. He was getting worse and worse...By the end of September he was so sick. He no longer was able to take feedings into his G-tube. His stomach lining was burnt from the chemotherapy, it was no longer processing anything - it was fried. I asked doctors if there was anything else we can give him and they said 'We're giving him max amounts of all anti-nausea medications we can give him.' They basically told me that this was as good as it was going to get. I told them that it was unacceptable," Hyde said.

Few beverages on this planet are as biocompatible to the human body and its hydration needs as coconut water. Indeed, coconut water was been reported to be used for intravenous hydration and resuscitation of critically ill patients in remote regions of the world for over half a century. [1]

It is also an excellent preserving medium for avulsed teeth (and semen!), besting even Hank's balanced salt solution, a commonly used medical solution. [2]

While some are concerned about the sugar content of this slightly sweet beverage, recent research shows it actually exhibits blood sugar lowering properties in an experimental model of diabetes.[3]

Additional animal research shows coconut water prevents and reverses high blood pressure associated with fructose feeding-induced hypertension, as well being able to reduce oxidative stress and insulin resistance. [4]

Perhaps one of the most amazing properties of coconut water is its superior lipid modulating activity in the animal model vis-à-vis the cholesterol-lowering statin drug known as lovastatin. [5] Which means we can, in clear conscience, modify Hippocrates' famous saying to: "Let What You Drink Be Your Medicine."

Sugar sweetened beverages such as sodas have received a wide-scale bad reputation for their negative impact on health. All the while, diet sodas are falsely promoted as a healthier alternative. But artificial sweeteners used in diet soda, such as aspartame, have also been tied to numerous health complications, with one study linking artificial sweeteners to premature delivery.

Although some attest to the safety of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, these sweeteners have actually been shown to cause considerable harm to health.

The study looking at the relationship between soft drink consumption and pregnancy outcome found that preterm delivery risk is upped 38 percent for pregnant women having 1 or more servings of artificially sweetened drinks a day. What's more, consuming 4 or more servings daily was associated with an increased risk of 78 percent.

"There was an association between intake of artificially sweetened carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks and an increased risk of preterm delivery...A stronger increase in risk was observed for early preterm and moderately preterm delivery than with late-preterm delivery. No association was observed for sugar-sweetened carbonated soft drinks (P for trend: 0.29) or for sugar-sweetened noncarbonated soft drinks (P for trend: 0.93)," the study states.

Ever since the World Health Organization admitted in 2011 that cell phone radiation is "possibly carcinogenic," and may be contributing to the global uptick in brain cancer cases, its far harder to label someone a hypochondriac for being concerned about the health consequences of exposure.[i]

In fact, one study cited in their report showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10-year period) - not exactly a small effect.

A recent study published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology confirms that the microwave radiation given off by mobile phones is capable of transforming normal cells into cancerous ones.

Titled "Cellular Neoplastic Transformation Induced by 916 MHz Microwave Radiation," researchers exposed fibroblast cells, a connective tissue-producing type of cell, to 916 MHz electromagnetic frequencies (which have already been shown to alter brain biomolecules), and found that after 5-8 weeks exposure they changed their form and rate of proliferation to a cancerous phenotype.

These cells were also found to be tumor-forming when transplanted into mice.