Reader Questions About Magnesium

An article we recently published about magnesium called The Forgotten Mineral That Could Save Your Life has generated a large amount of feedback, including follow-up questions. Here are the 3 most popular questions that have been coming in:

Question 1: So why are Americans so low in magnesium?

Answer: There are a number of factors behind the widespread magnesium shortfall, but America’s ultra-processed, high-sugar, high-salt, fatty diet is mostly to blame. Many of the foods Americans eat such as grains, vegetables, and other foods, undergo extensive processing (milling, blanching, boiling, etc.), which removes magnesium. For wheat, a major staple of our processed-food diet, refining out wheat bran and germ lowers the magnesium content by 80 percent. Further, chemicals used in the preparation of frozen vegetables, and boiling vegetables for prolonged periods of time also significantly lowers magnesium content. Eating too much fat, sodium, sugar, and protein, and drinking alcohol, also threatens the amount of magnesium in your body. Fat blocks the body’s ability to absorb magnesium as well as other minerals such as calcium. Eating a high-protein diet, such as the Atkins diet, also increases the need for magnesium. Salt, sugar, and alcohol cause the kidneys to excrete magnesium. Kids are especially at risk for magnesium deficiency because they’re often the biggest consumers of soda. According to recent USDA figures, 56 to 85 percent of children consume soda on a given day. Teenage boys are especially heavy soda drinkers, with over a third reporting they drink more than three servings a day. Soda contains exorbitant amounts of sugar, which pose a number of health issues for kids. The standard twelve-ounce can of cola, for instance, contains nine teaspoons of sugar. The high-sugar content of soda causes the kidneys to excrete magnesium. Further, many sodas also contain phosphates, which bind to magnesium, blocking its absorption in the body. The result is that many kids aren’t getting the magnesium they need to support healthy growth and development. Some medications also increase your need for magnesium. Birth control pills, diuretics, insulin, tetracycline and other antibiotics, all affect how much magnesium you need. Many diuretics, prescribed for high blood pressure, increase magnesium loss in the urine. Some antibiotics and digitalis, long used for heart pain, can increase magnesium need. Estrogen, found in both birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy, increases adrenaline which, in turn, increases magnesium need. Taking a calcium supplement that isn’t balanced with magnesium can also drain your magnesium stores. Calcium is an important nutrient, but your body also needs magnesium to properly utilize calcium. If you are currently taking a calcium supplement to prevent osteoporosis, switching to a calcium and magnesium supplement is recommended.

Question 2: What are the best food sources to get more magnesium?

Answer: The chart below gives some very popular foods that are good sources of magnesium:

A more extensive list of foods with magnesium can be found here.


Question 3: What magnesium supplements do you recommend?

Answer: While we always recommend first trying through food sources if possible, the RDA (the minimum amount needed) for magnesium is about 300 mg a day. Most of us get far less than 200 mg.

• Some may need much more depending on their condition.

• Most people benefit from 400 to 1,000 mg a day.

• The most absorbable forms are magnesium citrate, glycinate taurate, or aspartate, although magnesium bound to Kreb cycle chelates (malate, succinate, fumarate) are also good.

• Avoid magnesium carbonate, sulfate, gluconate, and oxide. They are poorly absorbed (and the cheapest and most common forms found in supplements).

• Side effects from too much magnesium include diarrhea, which can be avoided if you switch to magnesium glycinate.

• Most minerals are best taken as a team with other minerals in a multi-mineral formula.

• Taking a hot bath with Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) is a good way to absorb and get much needed magnesium.

• People with kidney disease or severe heart disease should take magnesium only under a doctor's supervision.

One other common question we have been asked since the article is: Can I get tested to find out my current magnesium level? We recommend watching this short video to answer that question.

Australian Scientists Discover Way To Print Solar Power Like Money

Scientists in Australia have produced the largest flexible, plastic solar cells – 10 times the size of what they were previously able to – thanks to a new solar cell 3D printer that could be a game changer for the solar power industry.

The researchers at Australia's Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) — a collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the University of Melbourne, Monash University and industry partners — have managed to print photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper.

"There are so many things we can do with cells this size. We can set them into advertising signage, powering lights and other interactive elements. We can even embed them into laptop cases to provide backup power for the machine inside," said CSIRO materials scientist, Dr. Scott Watkins.

These cells produce 10-50 watts of power per m2, and could be used to laminate the windows of skyscrapers, giving them an additional source of power. Or they could be printed onto materials such as steel, meaning they could be embedded into roofs of buildings.

Photovoltaic cells — the building blocks of solar panels — have been printed before, but the printing process was different.

For their printable solar cells, the VICOSC team used photovoltaic ink, a $200,000 printer, and techniques similar to those you'd use "if you were screen printing an image on to a t-shirt."

One of the most important aspects of this approach, claims Watkins, is accessibility. "We're developing our processes to be able to use these existing printing technologies so that the barrier to entry for manufacturing these new printed solar cells is as low as possible," he said.

'Pitcher Doctor' Ron Wolforth Takes Scientific Approach to Help Pitchers Throw 90 mph, Injury-Free

Arm injuries are at an all-time high in baseball and it seems there's news every day of a pitcher needing Tommy John surgery. However, a little-known Texas coach named Ron Wolforth may have the secret to getting pitchers to throw 90+ mph, injury-free. So why isn't Major League Baseball listening?

On a 20-acre ranch deep in the sticks of Montgomery, Texas, pitching coach Ron Wolforth gathers his pupils under the arched ceiling of a 3,600-square-foot corrugated-steel hut. They arrive from all over the country during the off-season, mostly teenagers and minor leaguers, lured by Wolforth's guarantee that he can get virtually anyone throwing 90-plus miles per hour, injury-free. How? Unlike most coaches – die-hard traditionalists who regurgitate decades-old maxims – Wolforth has devised a science-based approach that fuses pitching mechanics with the expertise of orthopedists, surgeons, and strength and conditioning coaches. By retooling a pitcher's delivery to eliminate inefficiencies and imbalances, Wolforth can reduce wear on his arm and engineer peak velocity.

Wolforth's unorthodox methods, combined with the fact that he never played ball beyond a mediocre college career, make him an outlier in baseball's good ol' boy culture.

"According to their logic," Wolforth says, "there should never be a male gynecologist, because they've never had a vulva. Thing is, I've never had anybody spend time at the ranch, see what we do, and leave saying, 'Aw, that's a bunch of crap.' "

Wolforth has good reason to feel confident. The coach has spawned one of Major League Baseball's best prospects in 22-year-old Trevor Bauer – the third pick in the 2011 draft, acquired by the Cleveland Indians last December, who's been training with Wolforth since he was 14. Last winter, several Indians coaches and front-office guys traveled to Texas to meet with Wolforth, including manager Terry Francona; then the organization flew him to spring training to give a presentation, a show of respect Wolforth called "major."

Brent Strom, a big-league pitcher in the Seventies who coaches with the St. Louis Cardinals, is a rare MLB voice who endorses Wolforth's system. "Ron develops velocity, but it's much more than that," Strom says. "He promotes arm health, control, command. He combines all of these different aspects of pitching, trying to overcome a lot of misteachings by uninformed coaches. He's also an excellent communicator, with a unique way of encapsulating information and making it usable."

C.J. Wilson of the Los Angeles Angels, who earned his second All-Star nod last year after training with Wolforth, agrees. "Ron educates way better than other coaches," Wilson says. "He's one of the most well-versed guys I've ever encountered. Usually, a coach says, 'Do this,' and you say, 'Why?' And he says, 'Because I fucking said so.' You're not teaching someone at that point."

Wolforth, 54, prides himself on his ability to synthesize information from several disciplines and make it digestible. He likes to say that he speaks the languages of both "ass-scratching, tobacco-spewing coaches" and "white-jacket researchers." But it took him a long time to become fluent. After graduating from college, Wolforth took a head coaching job with the University of Nebraska girls softball team. Between 1986 and 1991, his teams won three conference championships and took two trips to the College World Series, but Wolforth was more interested in coaching baseball. He moved to Texas to become a private instructor and soon became frustrated by the rampant arm injuries plaguing pitchers at every level.

In 1999, Wolforth had his breakthrough. He began consulting doctors and physical therapists in an effort to understand the damage pitching does to the body. Through this process, he realized that the preachings of pitching coaches the world over – "Drop and drive," "Get your elbow up," "Tuck your glove" – were not specific enough.

"Even at 12 and under, pitchers hear, 'Use your legs, use your hips,' but they don't know how," Wolforth says. "I joke with my guys all the time: 'Marry a pretty, rich girl. I highly recommend it.' But what do you do with advice like that? 'Use your legs' – really? Of course you should. Now, for the first time, you're going to learn how to use your legs."

Based on his research, Wolforth identified 14 areas within the pitching motion where wear and tear are likeliest to occur. Then he discovered that by getting guys to throw more economically, he could keep them healthier and make them throw faster.

While it seems inconceivable that coaches at the game's highest level wouldn't be up on the latest in exercise science, Wolforth says it's all too true. He blames a pervasive lack of intellectual curiosity within baseball – citing the early reaction against sabermetrics (the use of statistics to analyze rosters), depicted in the movie 'Moneyball.'

"Baseball people look at doctors and think, 'They don't understand baseball,' " he says. "And doctors look at baseball people and think, 'They don't understand elevated distal humerus.' What makes us different is that we feel as comfortable talking to an orthopedic surgeon about a labrum tear as with a physical therapist about a lack of shoulder mobility or a pitching coach about lack of fastball command."

On a chilly February weekend, several of Wolforth's most promising players mill about the ranch. Some watch slow-motion video of their throwing form. Others spread out for a little long-toss (a controversial warm-up where pitchers lob balls back and forth at distances of as much as 400 feet). One of Wolforth's signature exercises is done without a mound, mitt, or even a baseball: He has a pitcher rest a knee on a block, grip a clamp in his glove hand, squeeze an inflated ball in the pit of his throwing arm, and launch a weighted rubber ball into a net. The goal: to improve the fluidity of the "kinetic chain," or connected movements, in a delivery.

Michael Boyden, 22, is a rising prospect with the Washington Nationals, who nearly quit the game before his college team took a trip to the ranch. "This is how you know this stuff works," Boyden says. "I was the worst pitcher out of 11 on the team. I'm the only one who came back to the ranch and the only one who's still playing." Thanks to Wolforth, Boyden's velocity leaped from 86 to 95 mph, and his dream of getting drafted came true. Still, fearful he'd be punished for following unsanctioned advice, he didn't tell the Nationals about this trip.

Matt Graham, 23, a once-surefire pro now trying to live up to his hype with the San Francisco Giants, also keeps his connection to Wolforth under wraps. "You have to do this stuff behind their back, in a hotel room," Graham says of his training drills. Graham began working with Wolforth in the eighth grade and was drafted out of high school in 2009; but several coaches tried to change him, and he came undone. After recommitting to the ranch, he's certain a spot is waiting for him in the Giants' bullpen. "The guys that stay in the majors are the guys that stay healthy," he says. "That's what you get when you come here."

Since opening the Texas Baseball Ranch in 2006, Wolforth says he's had 118 pitchers break 90 mph for the first time in their lives. At his three-day "elite boot camps" ($749), he trains players as young as nine the same way he trains his pros, hopefully breeding a generation of hurlers who'll throw hard for decades. (The camps also net him a pretty comfortable existence in suburban Texas.) He predicts that five to 10 of his players will make the major league in the next five years; Bauer has already debuted, and Cody Buckel, the Texas Rangers' top pitching prospect, who's worked with Wolforth for six years, is likely next in line.

"The number one thing I want," Wolforth says, "is for these guys to know their movement so thoroughly that they feel comfortable listening to all the voices in pro ball, pulling out advice that might be helpful and then disregarding the rest."

[article sources]

Mark Cuban's Advice: Save Your Baby's Umbilical Cord Blood

Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the NBA franchise Dallas Mavericks, has some very interesting advice for new parents - Save the umbilical cord blood from your child's birth so they can reap the rewards of the upcoming advances in technology and medicine. Read on below:

Want Your Newborn to be an Athletic Superstar? By Mark Cuban:

Well I have no idea how to make sure he or she gets there. But what I do know that is if you have any such aspiration for your soon to be bundle of joy, then there is one thing you must do:

You must save the cord blood from your child’s birth.

At the Dallas Mavericks we have been diving into any and all advances in medical science that can give us a competitive edge. (The new advanced metrics that will impact the game). I’m not talking performance enhancing drugs, I’m talking proactive analysis and advanced recovery methodologies.  One that is obvious is the use of Stem Cells.

I’m not going to go into the science or offer any insights into what we are doing,  but what I will tell soon to be and future parents is that your doctors and your children will thank you in 20 years when they are relieved to find out that they can utilize the latest in medical technologies because mom and/or dad had the foresight to save their cord blood

Let me clear here. This is not a cure all. The use of cord blood cells in regenerative applications is still in its infancy (See the joke I made there ). But what I do know that is medical science is advancing rapidly. What will be available to your newborn child in 20 years will be vastly different than what is available today. By banking the cord blood in a private cord bank, while relatively expensive (Do your homework PLEASE before making a decision which bank to use), you will have given your child a unique option that could lead to the latest recovery techniques being available to him or her.

You want to know what the next big thing is? It’s personalized medicine. This is one baby step towards the future for your family

And let me be crystal clear again, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Not everyone agrees with me. It’s not cheap. It’s not a cure all. It’s an option. One that I have used with my children. But you have to make your own decisions.

[article source]

The Forgotten Mineral That Could Save Your Life

There's an abundance of  publicized  information out there about the health benefits of certain vitamins and minerals. It's widely known now that popular substances such as vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium and potassium are vital to one's health. However, one mineral that is so severely overlooked, and may be the most important to our overall health of all, is magnesium.

Up to 80 percent of Americans are jeopardizing their health by failing to get the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of a mineral that protects against heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and other dangerous disorders. In fact, this essential nutrient—required by every cell in your body—is so often overlooked that it’s been dubbed “the forgotten mineral.”

Skimping on this crucial mineral—magnesium—could actually be fatal, a new study suggests. The researchers checked the magnesium levels of 7,664 initially healthy people (using urine tests), then tracked the participants for an average of 10.5 years. Those with the lowest urinary levels of magnesium were 70 percent more likely to die from heart disease, compared to people with higher levels, even after other cardiovascular threats were taken into consideration.

The researchers report that low magnesium levels are an independent risk factor for heart disease, while a diet that’s rich in this vital mineral may be protective.

Yet most of us eat a dangerously unbalanced diet that’s too high in calcium and too low in magnesium, a combination that may actually boost risk for heart attacks and strokes, according to another new paper.

Low Magnesium: the Leading Risk for Heart Disease

The paper, which analyzes decades of peer-reviewed science, reports that low magnesium levels—not cholesterol or saturated fat—is the leading predictor of heart disease.  The paper argues that medical research took “an early wrong turn” by ignoring studies dating back to 1957 showing that lack of this essential mineral may actually cause plaque buildup in arteries.

“This means we have been chasing our tails all of these years going after cholesterol and the high saturated-fat diet, when the true culprit was and still is low magnesium,” study author Andrea Rosanoff, Ph.D., Director of Research & Science Information Outreach Center for Magnesium Education & Research, in Pahoa, Hawaii, contends in a statement.

“It should be obvious that cholesterol isn’t the cause, since heart disease remains the leading killer of Americans, despite two decades of statin use,” adds Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, author of The Magnesium Miracle (Ballantine Books). Indeed, a 2009 study of more than 136,000 people hospitalized for heart attacks found that nearly 75 percent of had LDL (bad) cholesterol levels considered normal under national guidelines, and close to half had “optimal” levels.

A Potentially Lifesaving Heart Attack Treatment

“Magnesium deficiency is the missing puzzle piece that explains why people with normal or optimal cholesterol—as well as those being treated with drugs to lower cholesterol—suffer heart attacks and strokes,” reports Dr. Dean.  

“Not only is there very solid scientific evidence that magnesium helps prevent heart attacks, but there is also research showing that if one occurs, immediate treatment with magnesium can actually stop cell death and save lives,” Dr. Dean adds.

In a randomized study of 194 heart-attack patients, those treated with IV magnesium had one-fourth the in-hospital death rate compared to those who received a placebo, and also had lower rates of irregular heartbeats and congestive heart failure.  A follow-up study by the same researchers also found that five years later, nearly twice as many in the placebo group had died from heart disease or other causes and those who survive had higher rates of impaired heart function.

Magnesium Helps Protect Against Chronic Disease

Magnesium plays a key role in more than 300 biological functions of the human body. It helps maintain healthy muscle and nerve function, supports the immune system, keeps bones strong, and aids regulation of blood sugar levels and blood pressure, reports the NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS).

Potential health benefits of magnesium include:

• Reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, according to data from very large studies. That’s because magnesium plays a key role in carbohydrate metabolism and may influence the release and activity of insulin, according to ODS. Low levels of magnesium are common in diabetes and may also contribute to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the root cause of type 2 diabetes and implicated in 70 percent of heart attacks.
• Protection against osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease that leads to fractures, deformity and disability in older people, particularly women. Several studies suggest that taking magnesium supplements may boost bone density.
• Maintaining healthy blood pressure levels. A diet that’s high in fruits and vegetables, both of which are good sources of magnesium, has consistently been linked to lower blood pressure in large studies, including the well-known DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) study.  
• Reduced risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). Several studies have tied higher levels of magnesium to lower risk for CAD—clogged arteries that can lead to a heart attack. There is also evidence that getting enough magnesium may help prevent stroke and heart arrhythmias. 

How much magnesium do you need?

The RDA is 400 to 420 mg. daily for men, and 310 to 320 mg. daily for women. For pregnant women, the RDA rises to 350 to 400 mg. daily, according to MedlinePlus.  In the UK, the RDA is 700 mg. daily, the amount that Dr. Dean recommends to her patients.

Foods that are rich in magnesium include leafy green vegetables like spinach and beans, fruits like bananas and apricots, peas, nuts, seeds, whole grains, soy products, and some types of mineral water. 

It is extremely common for Americans to have low levels of magnesium because most don’t eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. These foods are also lower in the mineral than was the typical in the past, since today’s produce is often grown in magnesium-depleted soil.

What are the warning signs of deficiency?

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency include chronic fatigue, weakness, insomnia, poor memory, mental fog, nausea, muscle cramps, tingling, and numbness. In more severe cases, people can experience seizures, abnormal heartbeats, and heart spasms.

Because these symptoms can overlap with those of other conditions, if you think you might be deficient, consult a healthcare provider, who can order tests to check your levels. Also talk to your provider before taking magnesium supplements, which can interact with certain medications. 

If a supplement is advised, one type Dr. Dean recommends is magnesium citrate powder, such as Natural Calm (sold at most health food stores). However, the powder can have a laxative effect if you take too much at once, so she advises spreading the dosage through the day. If you prefer to take a pill, magnesium dimalate is available as a sustained release pill.

Herbicide Roundup Linked to Serious Health Problems

The case for eating organic looks to have just become even stronger.

Heavy use of the world's most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson's, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.

The peer-reviewed report, published last week in the scientific journal Entropy, said evidence indicates that residues of "glyphosate," the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, which is sprayed over millions of acres of crops, has been found in food.

Those residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, according to the report, authored by Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant from Arthur D. Little, Inc. Samsel is a former private environmental government contractor as well as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," the study says.

We "have hit upon something very important that needs to be taken seriously and further investigated," Seneff said.

Environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists from several countries have warned that heavy use of glyphosate is causing problems for plants, people and animals.

The EPA is conducting a standard registration review of glyphosate and has set a deadline of 2015 for determining if glyphosate use should be limited. The study is among many comments submitted to the agency.

Monsanto is the developer of both Roundup herbicide and a suite of crops that are genetically altered to withstand being sprayed with the Roundup weed killer.

These biotech crops, including corn, soybeans, canola and sugarbeets, are planted on millions of acres in the United States annually. Farmers like them because they can spray Roundup weed killer directly on the crops to kill weeds in the fields without harming the crops.

Roundup is also popularly used on lawns, gardens and golf courses.

Monsanto and other leading industry experts have said for years that glyphosate is proven safe, and has a less damaging impact on the environment than other commonly used chemicals.

Jerry Steiner, Monsanto's executive vice president of sustainability, reiterated that in a recent interview when questioned about the study.

"We are very confident in the long track record that glyphosate has. It has been very, very extensively studied," he said.

Of the more than two dozen top herbicides on the market, glyphosate is the most popular. In 2007, as much as 185 million pounds of glyphosate was used by U.S. farmers, double the amount used six years ago, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.

New Study Shows We are Aging Faster than our Parents & are Less Healthy

Alarming news from an April 2013 paper in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that when it comes to metabolic health (basically, how well your body uses insulin to process the sugar in your blood), today's 45 year olds are on par with 60 year olds of the generations before them. What does that mean for 20 and 30 somethings? Well, you do the math: Just add 15 years.

New Generations are Aging Faster

The study measured various aspects of metabolic health, including the prevalence of being overweight or obese and body mass index (BMI). All three are notably higher in young people today than they had been in the past, with obesity among women in their 20s up twofold from a generation earlier. That means that a 20-something is two times more likely to be obese by her 30s than a woman 10 years older than she is. These scary generation shifts were seen nearly across the board for both men and women.

Poor metabolic health isn't just about whether you can eat as much as your friend without gaining weight. It's the first step on the slippery slope to a heap of problems, from increased belly fat to obesity to type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But fear not! You're not destined to go down this road. Though there is a genetic component at play, you can control your metabolic health. Good lifestyle and eating habits will help you stay healthy and keep from aging ahead of your years.

Here's what you need to do:

Get Moving
Regular physical activity-whether at the gym or by speed walking to work and actively tending your lawn-is a key to keeping your body humming along. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise, five days a week helps you stay at a healthy weight, decreases damaging inflammation, helps regulate blood pressure and cholesterol and supports your system's ability to use insulin efficiently.

Eat Smart
You know when you're looking at a package of snack cakes that they're not good for you. But do you really stop to think about what they're doing? Routinely filling up on carbohydrates from white flour (cakes, white bread, rice) and tons of added sugar (why else would those treats taste so sweet?) forces your body to pump out more and more insulin to break down the torrent of sugar rushing through your bloodstream. Eventually, your body gets so used to those levels of insulin that the same amount doesn't work anymore. That's called insulin resistance, and it's just a step away from type-2 diabetes.

Skip the Soda
A new study out of Europe suggests that drinking just one soda per day increases your chance of getting type 2 diabetes! One theory is that the high sweetness of diet drinks causes people to crave sweet foods, eating more sugar in the end. Another thought is that some ingredients in artificial sweeteners might lead to insulin resistance or inflammation. Either way, steer clear and go for black coffee, natural teas, water or seltzer instead.

New European Study Shows Drinking Just 1 Soda a Day Raises Diabetes Risk by 22 Percent

Here's yet another reason for giving up soda: A new study out yesterday suggests that just one 12 ounce serving of soda can raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 22 percent.

Since most research on the evils of soda has looked at North American populations, researchers at the Imperial College of London wanted to see if they could establish a link between sugary drink consumption and type 2 diabetes in Europeans too.

To test their theory, the researchers combed through over 15 years of data on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption that included more than 27,000 people from seven European countries. During that time period more than 40 percent developed type 2 diabetes, with those who said they drank at least one soda or some other sweet drink each day showing an 18 percent higher risk of developing the disease. When factors like body weight and body mass index weren't controlled for, the risk rose to 22 percent.

This is consistent with findings from U.S. studies that find that soda drinking is associated with a 25 percent increased diabetes risk.

Notably, even diet soda drinkers had to worry about developing diabetes. However, when body weight and exercise levels were factored in, the link disappeared. In other words, healthy-weight, exercising diet soda drinkers were no more likely to develop type two diabetes than non-soda drinkers.

Why is sipping just one small can of soda daily so damaging to health? Sweetened drinks are the largest contributor of empty calories and processed sugar in both the American and European diet according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It's been pegged as a major contributor to a variety of health issues.

"Aside from sugar, there are nine other potentially dangerous ingredients in soda, including carcinogenic artificial colors and phosphoric acid, which can contribute to everything from obesity to cancer to the depletion of micronutrients essential for strong bones," noted Jayson Calton, co-author of Rich Food, Poor Food, a book that explains the hidden dangers in food and beverages.

The British study is not without issues. Each country's study center analyzed their data a little differently which might have introduced errors. It's also what scientists call an association study, meaning the information is culled from self-reported drinking patterns - a technique that always chances inaccuracies.

However, it does seem to reinforce the clear message that sugary drinks have an unhealthy effect, not only on the waistline, but on overall health.

Connected Light Bulbs of the Future: Lighting is about to get much smarter

Now that we have smart phones, smart TVs, and smart thermostats, perhaps it’s not surprising that smart light bulbs are just around the corner.

Digital convergence is rapidly coming to lighting as component makers pave the way for customizable, networked lamps.

Component companies are creating the electronics to make it easier to control light fixtures or adjust light color from a smart phone or computer. These control products already exist but companies, including semiconductor company Marvell and LED maker Bridgelux, are developing technology to bring down the cost in both consumer and commercial lighting.

Philips last year introduced Hue, a kit that includes three LED light bulbs and a Zigbee wireless hub to control them, a $200 package sold through Apple stores. At the industry conference Lightfair International next week, Marvell will be showing off chip sets that will allow light makers to add networking to light bulbs for an additional two dollars, a cost that will help spur consumer sales of connected lights, says Kishore Manghani, vice president of green technology products.

It’s conceivable that by the end of the year, a package similar to Hue could be sold for $99 and half that price by the end of next year, according to Manghani. “We’re enabling OEM (lighting manufacturers) to make a connected bulb at a consumer price point, not an early technology adopter price point,” he says. 

Marvell also developed a chip set that will make it cheaper to add wireless drivers to commercial lighting. The all-digital system, developed to work with Daintree’s lighting control system, means additional features, such as dimming or color control, can be added with a software upgrade, says Manghani. 

In another sign of digital convergence in lighting, LED maker Bridgelux tomorrow will introduce a product to make it easier to add features, such as wireless controls and sensors to commercial lighting. The company changed the packaging that accompanies its LED light engines—the semiconductors that give off light—to give light fixture makes more design flexibility, says Aaron Merrill, the director of marketing. For example, lights could be connected to corporate networks to measure energy usage, include motion sensors, or dim to take advantage of natural daylight.

Right now, businesses stand to benefit most from digital lighting because they can fine-tune schedules or use sensors to lower their energy use. For consumers, lights controlled by a smart phone are a cool feature, but not something many people will be willing to pay a lot more money for. But if a wireless LED bulb only costs five dollars more than a non-connected one, it might well tempt more consumers. Perhaps more important than remote control, smart LED bulbs will give people the ability to adjust light color in a variety of ways that let people customize their lighting, not something incumbent technology can do. 

The Future is Now for Austin, TX - Google Fiber's Next Stop

By Adam Camara - How would you like your DVR to be able to record 8 programs at once? And have 2 terabytes of storage, so you don't have to delete saved programs to make room for new ones. How about having Internet speeds that are 100 times faster than the average? So that websites load instantly, photos upload in seconds, and you never have to wait for web videos to buffer. Well the community of Austin, TX is reportedly about to have all that with Google Fiber coming to town.

After rave reviews in its first stop of Kansas City, Google Fiber has been touting the emergence of “Silicon Prairie.” The company points to initiatives such as Kansas City Startup Village, and new businesses are already beginning to blossom. One prominent Colorado-based venture capitalist even bought a house in a Google Fiber-equipped neighborhood — and then launched a competition for entrepreneurs to live there rent-free. “The whole startup thing in Kansas City is like this huge growing beast,” local web developer Ben Barreth recently told the Associated Press. “It’s got this crazy momentum.”

Better Technology at a Better Price = Consumers Win

Google says its fiber-to-the-home product provides customers with broadband Internet speeds of one gigabit per second — roughly 100 times faster than the average U.S. connection — as well as crystal clear television service. In Kansas City, Google offers residents seven years of free Internet service at current broadband speeds, after a $300 installation fee. Super-fast one gigabit Internet service costs $70 per month, and the top bundle, which includes Google’s TV service, costs $120 per month. (The $300 installation fee is waived for the latter two offerings.)

But taking on broadband giants like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon is a tall order, because those companies dominate most U.S. markets. When Google Fiber was announced, many observers believed that the company’s goal would be to shame those giants into improving their offerings, by demonstrating that vastly faster broadband service is possible in the United States. Improving U.S. broadband speed and penetration is important for Google, because the more people who use broadband Internet, at faster speeds, the more Google searches get executed, which translates into more revenue for the company. With Google Fiber’s impending arrival in Austin, the project is increasingly looking like a real business for the company, and not just a shaming exercise.

So how do you feel about Google becoming the Internet & Cable Service Provider of the future? Whether they come to your community in the near future or not, their innovation will hopefully at least force the existing providers to improve their offerings. That's the free market at its best..when innovation gives consumers a better product or service at a lower price.