From cleaner harbour water to dirty farmland. On Aug. 2, at least two Halifax-area beaches will officially open to swimmers for the first time in many years. [News Source]

Salmon: the next buffalo? Why salmon are on the brink of extinction unless big changes are made. The richness of salmon has been squandered by many things: pollution, the damning of rivers, the destruction of spawning areas in a thousand small streams, in other words, the gradual but continual degradation of the operating integrity of the ecosystem. [News Source]

Restaurants get jump on trans fat. Several Burbank, California establishments have already switched to products that don’t use the substance. [News Source]

Los Angeles bans new fast-food restaurants in poor areas lacking healthier fare. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the city with a proliferation of such eateries and above average rates of obesity. [News Source]

GM crop trial halted after crop destruction. A trial of genetically modified potatoes that could help protect billions of pounds worth of crops from disease is to be abandoned after scientists admitted it was futile to conduct such research on crops in the UK. [News Source]

Worry ‘ups men’s diabetes risk’. Anxiety, depression and sleepless nights increase the risk of diabetes in men, a Swedish study suggests. [News Source]

Children targets of $1.6 billion in food ads. One in three children in this country are overweight. But, until now, it was unclear how much the nation's largest food and beverage companies spent influencing kids to eat unhealthy foods. [News Source]

Fruit drinks found to lead to diabetes. Sweetened fruit drinks are often marketed as a healthier alternative to non-diet soft drinks but are just as likely to cause weight gain and increase the risk of diabetes, researchers said on Monday. [News Source]

Fast food invasion hits Mediterranean diet in its heartland. Increased affluence and the arrival of supermarkets and fast foods in countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal have also led to a massive increase in obesity, the report finds. [News Source]

NBTY muscles up Q3 web sales (InternetRetailer.com) Vitamin manufacturer and retailer NBTY Inc. continues to pump up its web sales. In the third quarter NBTY’s web sales rose by 35% to $24.7 million from $18.3 million in the prior year. [News Source]

Limited outdoor exposure gives you healthy dose of vitamin D (Lawrence Journal-World) How do you know if you’re getting enough vitamin D from the sun? [News Source]

Rice and shrimp for a dose of vitamin D (The Trenton Times) Pick up any recent health publication, and you'll probably read about the importance of vitamin D -- aka the sunshine vitamin -- for healthy bones and other systems. [News Source]