The town that's found a potent cure for illness – community

“Sustainable Williamson” combined ideas and initiatives from local officials, community members, nonprofit organizations to address both the economy and the well-being of a community where unemployment and drug use were climbing.

U.S. Hispanics who pass down a tradition of food, family, and healing are healthier. But as generations become more assimilated, many are adjusting to less healthy diets and habits.

If rich people need life insurance, poor people need it more. Here’s how millions of poor people are getting it – including people with AIDS.

Nutrition labeling on sugary drinks hardly gives understandable measurements so that consumers can make informed choices for their well-being. Outside of the United States, other countries like Mexico have tried the “12 teaspoonfuls” campaign that clearly informs consumers what is in their soda, and Ecuador has tried the traffic-light label to demonstrate nutrition information through colorful symbols. Both of these approaches have shown to be successful at reducing the consumption of high-sugar goods.

The World Bank estimates that iron deficiency is a $50 billion drain on global GDP. In Cambodia, one entrepreneur has marketed little blocks of metal that are dropped in cooking pots and slowly release iron, entering the cooked food.

We know how to prevent diabetes - but the U.S, medical system, with its twisted priorities, doesn’t cover prevention. A new program at the YMCA aims to build structured, effective prevention measures.

Programs to get fresh produce carts to areas with no access to healthy food work best when government and determined entrepreneurs team up. Success from this model is evident in New York City, where the city has incentivized the selling of fruits and vegetables by street vendors in areas that are in the most need of the produce.

El Poder del Consumidor is an organization fighting Coca-Cola's power over health care decisions in Mexico. The organization tried many tactics but only found success after finding friends with enough money to compete with the beverage industry giants.

Diabetes hits US immigrant communities especially hard, with genetics and higher-calorie diets explaining just part of it. Support groups help immigrants with diabetes to find a way to eat healthy in the American high-calorie system.

Often it is faster and easier to harvest molecules for medical purposes from nature than to make them in a laboratory. A scientist is looking for cancer-fighting molecules in coral and sponges in the tropical Pacific.