In the United States, many legislators and public health officials are busy trying to make vaccines de facto compulsory - either by removing parental/personal choice given by existing vaccine exemptions or by imposing undue quarantines and fines on those who do not comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) vaccine edicts. Officials in California are seeking to override medical opinion about fitness for vaccination, while those in New York are mandating the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for 6-12-month-old infants for whom its safety and effectiveness "have not been established."

American children would be better served if these officials - before imposing questionable and draconian measures - studied child health outcomes in Japan. With a population of 127 million, Japan has the healthiest children and the very highest "healthy life expectancy" in the world - and the least vaccinated children of any developed country. The U.S., in contrast, has the developed world's most aggressive vaccination schedule in number and timing, starting at pregnancy, at birth and in the first two years of life. Does this make U.S. children healthier? The clear answer is no. The U.S. has the very highest infant mortality rate of all industrialized countries, with more American children dying at birth and in their first year than in any other comparable nation - and more than half of those who survive develop at least one chronic illness. Analysis of real-world infant mortality and health results shows that U.S. vaccine policy does not add up to a win for American children.

When Tom Shicowich's toe started feeling numb in 2010, he brushed it off as a temporary ache. At the time, he didn't have health insurance, so he put off going to the doctor. The toe became infected, and he got so sick that he stayed in bed for two days with what he assumed was the flu. When he finally saw a doctor, the physician immediately sent Shicowich to the emergency room. Several days later, surgeons amputated his toe, and he ended up spending a month in the hospital to recover.

Shicowich lost his toe because of complications of Type 2 diabetes as he struggled to keep his blood sugar under control. He was overweight and on diabetes medications, but his diet of fast food and convenient, frozen processed meals had pushed his disease to life-threatening levels.

After a few more years of trying unsuccessfully to treat Shicowich's diabetes, his doctor recommended that he try a new program designed to help patients like him. Launched in 2017 by the Geisinger Health System at one of its community hospitals, the Fresh Food Farmacy provides healthy foods - heavy on fruits, vegetables, lean meats and low-sodium options - to patients in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and teaches them how to incorporate those foods into their daily diet. Each week, Shicowich, who lives below the federal poverty line and is food-insecure, picks up recipes and free groceries from the Farmacy's food bank and has his nutrition questions answered and blood sugar monitored by the dietitians and health care managers assigned to the Farmacy. In the year and a half since he joined the program, Shicowich has lost 60 lb., and his A1C level, a measure of his blood sugar, has dropped from 10.9 to 6.9, which means he still has diabetes but it's out of the dangerous range. "It's a major, major difference from where I started from," he says. "It's been a life-changing, lifesaving program for me."

Washington State University researchers have found a variety of diseases and other health problems in the second- and third-generation offspring of rats exposed to glyphosate, the world's most popular weed killer. In the first study of its kind, the researchers saw descendants of exposed rats developing prostate, kidney and ovarian diseases, obesity and birth abnormalities.

Michael Skinner, a WSU professor of biological sciences, and his colleagues exposed pregnant rats to the herbicide between their eighth and 14th days of gestation. The dose - half the amount expected to show no adverse effect - produced no apparent ill effects on either the parents or the first generation of offspring.

But writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers say they saw "dramatic increases" in several pathologies affecting the second and third generations. The second generation had "significant increases" in testis, ovary and mammary gland diseases, as well as obesity. In third-generation males, the researchers saw a 30 percent increase in prostate disease - three times that of a control population. The third generation of females had a 40 percent increase in kidney disease, or four times that of the controls.

When most people think of liver disease, the first thing that pops into their heads is that a few too many alcoholic drinks is the culprit. But there are countless everyday habits that put stress on your liver function. Apart from drinking, eating processed foods like fructose, high fructose corn syrup, refined flours, and fried foods, not to mention taking certain supplements or prescriptions can all add up to an unhealthy liver.

Luckily, you can do much to help support your liver health. Many nutrients such as vitamins C and E, selenium, magnesium, and zinc can contribute to maintaining proper liver function. But one nutrient that often goes unrecognized can play a major role in supporting a healthy liver. Not only does the evidence show it can help prevent fatty liver disease, it might play an important role in preventing cancer. The nutrient? Choline!

Anne Hathaway used to be all about following a vegan diet - she ditched the animal products nearly a decade ago to lose weight for her Academy Award-winning role in Les Miserables, and kept it up to fit into her slinky Catwoman suit for Dark Knight Rises. The actress even had a vegan spread at her 2012 wedding to husband Adam Shulman. But a taste of fish two years later completely changed her mind.

Hathaway, 36, revealed that a little peer pressure from Matt Damon, her Interstellar costar, is what turned her back into a meat-eater.

Hathaway and Damon, along with Shulman, were out to dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant while shooting the movie in Reykjavik, Iceland. Damon told the waiter he would have whatever the chef wanted to serve him, while Hathaway wondered how she could maintain her veganism without causing problems.

One of the primary causes of high iron levels in men is due to the genetic condition Hemochromatosis. Also known as Iron Overload, this hereditary disorder causes too much iron to be absorbed during digestion. Over time, iron levels can build up in the body and result in the development of symptoms and complications with health.

Hemochromatosis Symptoms in Men

When it comes to Hemochromatosis, there is a stereotype that too much iron in the blood is a symptom that is primarily seen in men. And while this presumption ignores how many women are affected by iron overload, there are quite a number of symptoms of iron overload unique to men.

The most common symptoms men experience when they have high iron are:

• Fatigue
• Joint pains
• Weakness
• Weight loss
• Stomach pains

The number of measles cases in the U.S. so far this year is approaching the record for the decade - and in just four months time, according to new data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there have been 626 confirmed cases of measles so far this year, an increase of 71 new cases since last week. Two new states - Iowa and Tennessee - join the list, bringing the total to 22.

The only year when there were more cases reported in the United States since the disease was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 was in 2014 - 667.

"In the coming weeks, 2019 confirmed case numbers will likely surpass 2014 levels," the CDC said in its update Monday.

Prolong your life by increasing your muscle power. That's the main message of a study presented today at EuroPrevent 2019, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology.¹

"Rising from a chair in old age and kicking a ball depend more on muscle power than muscle strength, yet most weight bearing exercise focuses on the latter," said study author Professor Claudio Gil Araújo, director of research and education, Exercise Medicine Clinic -- CLINIMEX, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "Our study shows for the first time that people with more muscle power tend to live longer."

Power depends on the ability to generate force and velocity, and to coordinate movement.² In other words, it is the measure of the work performed per unit time (force times distance); more power is produced when the same amount of work is completed in a shorter period or when more work is performed during the same period.³ Climbing stairs requires power -- the faster you climb, the more power you need. Holding or pushing a heavy object (for example a car with a dead battery) needs strength.

Researchers found that nearly 1 in 5 people who had received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis had other unrelated conditions.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a widespread disabling neurological condition in which the immune system attacks and destroys the fatty tissue that surrounds the nerves. This leads to nerve damage, which affects communication between the nerves and the brain.

People with MS may experience symptoms, including numbness or weakness in the limbs, tremors, and lack of coordination. However, some of the symptoms have similarities to other debilitating conditions, including stroke and migraine.

MS and stroke are very different conditions, but they both harm the brain. Some of the symptoms they share include attention issues, dizziness, numbness in the limbs, slurring, visual impairment, and difficulty in walking.

MS and migraine attacks also have some symptoms in common, including dizziness and vision impairment. A recent study pooled data on people who had received a wrong diagnosis of MS and found that 72 of the 110 patients had other conditions, including migraine.

I once read an interview with legendary fiction writer Stephen King in which he told the interviewer that he simply reads the newspaper to get ideas for his novels, declaring that truth was far scarier than fiction. After reading about the latest development in the lawsuits against Monsanto, I'm inclined to agree with him.

As part of the 3rd cancer trial facing Monsanto (now owned by Bayer AG), new emails were released that showed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials may have colluded with Monsanto to help slow the release of the dangers of the pesticide from the public. According to the documents and testimony, Monsanto apparently asked the government agency to slow down their safety review of the company's top-selling herbicide, RoundUp. According to the documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, not only did the government agree to slow the safety review, EPA officials also helped the company by giving them consistent updates.