You can do a lot of relatively small things that can make a huge impact on your health and reduce your overall risk for disease. Things like getting more sunlight… consuming more antioxidants in your diet… or cutting out the sugar and sticking to low-glycemic foods.

These small changes can benefit your health and longevity in profound ways and you should incorporate them into your lifestyle. But perhaps the most important thing you can do to improve your health is to consume more omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids are vital for your brain and your heart. They can boost your immunity. They can increase lung function and athletic performance. They can alleviate depression and improve critical thinking. They can also tame inflammation and quell oxidation.

In the last 20 years, the number of overweight children and adolescents has tripled. Adults have fared just as poorly. Currently more than two thirds – almost 70% – of Americans are considered overweight or obese.

And if you listen to the candy and snack food manufacturers, beverage companies, the processed food industry and fast food restaurants, our growing waistlines have very little to do with how much or the types of food we put in our mouths.

At least that’s the “spin” these companies tried to put on the situation when the Department of Health and Human Services recently drafted new statements and recommendations on health and obesity.

Every time your body is injured – whether you scrape your knee on the pavement or the lining of your arteries becomes irritated – your immune system triggers an “inflammatory” response.

When this inflammation occurs ON your body, the signs are easy to recognize. Redness, swelling, warmth and pain are all associated with an inflammatory response.

But inflammation that occurs WITHIN your body does not come with such obvious signs. Think of it like a house that is being eaten by termites. Although, the house may look fine from the outside, the structure underneath is becoming soft, rotten and unsound.

Most of us have heard one shocking story or another about the dangerous side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. But many people are not aware that some of these drugs can actually worsen or even cause the same disease they are designed to treat.

Tamoxifen is one example. This drug is generally prescribed to high-risk women to prevent breast cancer. But according to a study published in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, tamoxifen can actually cause uterine cancer and increase the mortality rate from the disease.

Or consider diabetes drugs, like Avandia. Results from the ACCORD trial (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) showed that aggressive blood sugar management with these drugs resulted in a 22% increased risk of death in diabetic patients.

The FDA just announced that the label of a popular prostate drug must now carry a new warning.

The common drug is sold by Merck to help treat enlarged prostates and male pattern baldness. The FDA now says that it’s been linked to decreased sex drive and the inability to ejaculate or achieve orgasm. And according to the agency’s warning, some users reported that these side effects continued for months after stopping the drugs.

But it turns out that an impaired sex life may be the least worrisome effect.

You already know that exercise can strengthen your muscles, bones and ligaments. You know that it can make your heart and lungs grow stronger. And it can also increase your energy and improve your sex life.

But what if just a few days of exercise each week could increase the size of your brain… repair and restore your organs at a cellular level… and even reverse the aging process?

Well, recent research shows that it could. In fact, Canadian scientists believe they’ve discovered the fountain of youth…

There is a wild mushroom that grows on mulberry trees in Korea, Japan, and China. Since ancient times it has been considered a “miracle cure.”

Now, emerging research shows that it could be a powerful weapon against prostate cancer.

Dr. Chang-Yan Chen is a research investigator at Harvard Medical School. He specializes in cancer and hematology (the study of the blood and blood diseases). In particular, he examines the signals your body sends that cause cells to grow and die.

New research shows that the fruit of a tropical vine may help fight breast cancer.

The study comes from Dr. Ratna Ray, a professor of pathology at St. Louis University. She specializes in studying the regulation of cell growth.

And while the results of her study, published in the journal Cancer Research, are preliminary… they are also very promising.

Americans spend nearly $86 billion a year on back pain treatments. That’s more than three quarters of what we spend on cancer treatments each year.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that U.S. back pain expenditures climbed 65 percent between 1997 and 2005. At the same time, there’s been an estimated 171 percent spending increase on drugs to treat back pain.

But the problem is not only that modern medicine’s “go-to” treatments for back problems are expensive. It’s that these traditional treatments – including spinal injections and spinal surgery – simply aren’t working.

There are more positive, peer-reviewed studies about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids than practically any other food or nutrient. These are the healthy fats found primarily in fish oil and other animal products.

They are vital for your brain and heart. They can boost your immunity, improve athletic performance, tame inflammation, fight diabetes, eliminate depression and even help you lose weight.

Now, a new study shows that compounds in omega-3 fats can help fight leukemia.