The number of Americans suffering from diabetes continued to increase during 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently, rising to more than 8 percent of the total U.S. population.

The CDC said nearly 2 million people aged 20 or over were diagnosed with diabetes this year, and over half of them were between 45 and 64 years of age.

The continuing rise of diabetes in the American population - many public health experts already consider the condition to have reached epidemic proportions - has also become a serious financial issue, the CDC reported. The direct medical costs of treating the country's diabetes sufferers in 2007 was $116 billion, meaning that each diabetic in American was responsible for more than twice as much healthcare expenditure compared to non-diabetics, on average.

In addition, the CDC said, the indirect cost to the country - in lost work hours, premature deaths and disability insurance - was $58 billion over the course of the same year. Experts say those numbers are likely to be far higher, given the incidence of diabetes seen over the past several years.

Getting insufficient amounts of sleep every night could lead to problems losing weight and keeping it off, BrainBlogger writer Jennifer Gibson reported this weekend.

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated sleep deprivation can affect a person's attempts to lose weight in a number of ways, Gibson said, including a reduction in the hormone which decreases appetite, an increase in the one that promotes it and a spike in the consumption of calories during snacks rather than meals.

Gibson also said a recent study from researchers at the University of Chicago saw a decrease in the amount of body fat lost by dieters who were subjected to moderate sleep restriction by 55 percent, as well as the amount of fat-free body mass, when compared to those on normal sleep schedules.

In addition to weight problems, Gibson said, memory loss and an increasingly rapid aging process can result from prolonged periods of insufficient sleep. She suggests a public health campaign to promote healthy sleeping habits could be highly beneficial.

Other experts point out that stress levels and psychological health are also negatively affected by insufficient sleep.

The idea of shortcuts to a healthy diet and consequently improved lifestyle has been around far longer than the Atkins Diet and South Beach, according to an article from MSNBC.

Formerly, some excess weight was a sign of success and may actually have been a healthy adaptation for surviving the weight loss incurred by diseases that have now been conquered by modern medicine, the cable news network reports.

However, advances in transportation and a massive decrease in the number of calories people burn every day have made it easier and easier for people to take in more energy than they need, according to MSNBC, and the fad diet has been a response to this trend from its inception in the industrial revolution.

Experts say there are no quick and dirty ways of improving one's diet without significant effort. Eating mostly all-natural foods with an emphasis on vegetables and fruit, as well as making sure one burns as many calories as one takes in is still the only proven way to get healthier.

A rare form of breast cancer could be linked to the presence of silicone or saline implants used in breast enhancement surgery, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which announced recently it would investigate any possible connection.

Although anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is slightly more common in lymph nodes and the skin, but is still quite rare, the FDA said, and incidence in breast tissue is even less common. The administration has asked physicians around the country to contribute to a database of ALCL cases, in order to study any patterns that may arise.

In a review of 13 years of scientific literature, 34 cases of ALCL were seen in women with both silicone and saline breast implants, the FDA said. A total of 60 cases worldwide were discovered, according to the administration.

While there is no conclusive evidence to support such a connection, the FDA urges women with breast implants to monitor them closely and to make sure they contact a physician if they notice anything unusual.

Researchers say there may be a silver lining for women who have to deal frequently with the irritation of hot flashes. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found a correlation between lowered breast cancer incidence and the physical symptoms of menopause.

Dr. Christopher Li said the most annoying types of menopause symptoms were among the most strongly linked to lower breast cancer risk.

"In particular we found that women who experienced more intense hot flushes - the kind that woke them up at night - had a particularly low risk of breast cancer," he said.

Li and his fellow researchers postulate that there is a connection between the body's levels of estrogen and progesterone - hormones which, they say, are important factors in the development of some breast cancers - and the tapering-off of their production in the ovaries of menopausal women.

The full results of the study are due to be published in the February edition of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

Experts say the best defense against breast cancer is still early detection, and urge women to have frequent mammograms as they enter middle age.