Alternative Cancer Prevention Diet

A University of Minnesota Cancer Center study found that women consuming more than 800 milligrams of calcium each day reduced their risk of colorectal cancer by as much as 26 to 46%. A 26% reduction in risk of colorectal cancer occurred regardless of whether the calcium intake was from diet or supplement. Among women who consumed high levels of calcium from diet and supplements, the risk reduction almost double than that observed for calcium from either source by itself. The results of the study appear in this month's Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention journal. Andrew Flood, PhD, epidemiologist with the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and School of Public Health, led the study in collaboration with the National Cance... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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A study of New York City newborns suggests that prenatal exposure to air pollution may be linked to genetic changes associated with an increased risk of cancer, researchers said. [MSNBC.com: Health]

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A 9-year-old boy who nicknamed his brain tumor "Frank" — that's short for Frankenstein — is celebrating the intruder's departure.

"Frank is now dead and gone and never to return," David Dingman-Grover said Tuesday. He was wearing a black T-shirt that read, "Cancer is not who I am." [Yahoo! News - Health]

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A single gene variant may increase a man's risk of prostate cancer by 50%, according to a new study led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and published this week in Cancer Research. [EurekAlert! - Cancer]

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Green tea extract has shown promise against cancer in numerous studies. Those findings came from animal studies and epidemiologic research, which tracks a disease's occurrence in a large population of people.

In other words, the human studies on green tea are mainly based on observation and don't prove that tea is responsible for results. But as one of the world's most popular drinks, tea is widely considered healthy, whether it's green, black, or white tea. However, green tea and green tea supplements generally contain higher amounts of disease-fighting antioxidants called polyphenols than black tea.

For instance, studies on mice showed that green tea helped prevent prostate cancer growth. Green tea extract is also reported to induce cancer cell death and starve tumors by curbing the growth of new blood vessels that feed them. [MedicineNet Cancer General]

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Coffee can prove to be a boon in the medical world by helping prevent the most common type of liver cancer.

In a study which included more than 90,000 Japanese found people who drank coffee daily or nearly every day had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank coffee.

According to the estimates of the American Cancer Society 18,920 new cases of liver cancer were diagnosed in the US last year and some 14,270 people died of the illness. The causes include hepatitis, cirrhosis, excess alcohol consumption and diseases causing chronic inflammation of the liver. [All Headline News - Cancer News and Headlines]

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A University of Minnesota Cancer Center study shows women ingesting more than 800 milligrams of calcium daily significantly cut their colorectal cancer risk. The risk reduction was as much as 26 percent to 46 percent, epidemiologist Andrew Flood reported in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. A 26 percent decrease was reported regardless of whether the calcium was from a regular diet or a supplement. In the study, which followed 45,354 women for an average 8.5 years, participants getting their calcium fix from both food and supplements had nearly double the decrease in risk as those getting the mineral from a sole source. Flood says consuming a diet that provides at least 800 mg per day, which... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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Seaweed might be good for more than just holding your sushi roll together. Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that kelp seaweed supplements given to female rats lowered levels of estradiol -- a form of estrogen that may be linked to breast cancer in women. "This is the kind of thing that could potentially be used as therapy," said Christine Skibola, a UC Berkeley toxicologist and lead author of the study. "I was anxious to get it out there because at this point there aren't any true dietary anti-estrogen compounds." Though the research involved rats, the findings could have benefits for humans as well. In Japan, where brown kelp seaweed makes up about 10 percent of the diet, women have lower rates of breast cancer than in the Un... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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A compound derived from a rare South American plant shows promise as a treatment for breast cancer, according to a University of Virginia Health System study.

The compound, called SL0101, comes from the plant Forsteronia refracta, a member of the dogbane family that grows in the Amazonian rainforest. [Yahoo! News - Health]

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Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, is an epidemic among cancers; it claims thousands of lives every year. Despite advances in cancer genetics and treatments, current therapies are only mildly effective once melanoma has become metastatic. Understanding the genetic and environmental influences that lead to melanoma will contribute to therapeutic advancement. By studying how a particular human gene often mutated in melanoma influences melanoma development in a fish species, researchers have created a genetic model for understanding how melanoma develops humans. [EurekAlert! - Cancer]

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Twenty-two breast cancer survivors will paddle their way to physical and mental health this year.

Canadian representatives of the Dragon Boat Association celebrated the start of a new Louisiana team at a meeting in Lafayette on Thursday. [Breast Cancer - Topix.net]

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There's more good news from the garden: A compound in carrots may be a potent cancer fighter, reducing malignancies in rats by a third, a European study claims.

"One of the natural pesticides in carrots is responsible for the cancer-preventing effect of carrots," said lead researcher Kirsten Brandt, a senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, in England. "We now have identified a compound which seems to have an effect that can explain this benefit."

Nutrition experts have long recommended that people eat carrots because of their apparent ability to prevent cancer, but, until now, the particular compound driving this effect was not known. Epidemiological studies have shown that individuals with the highest carrot consumption can lower their risk of cancer by up to 40 percent. [MedicineNet Cancer General]

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High levels of magnesium in their diet may help protect women from developing colorectal cancer, Karolinska Institute researchers say. "Animal studies have suggested that dietary magnesium may play a role in the prevention of colorectal cancer, but data in humans are lacking," noted Susanna C. Larsson, MSc, of the National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and her colleagues. For their study, reported in the January 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers used data from the Swedish Mammography Cohort, a population-based prospective cohort of 61,433 women aged 40 to 75 years without previous diagnosis of cancer at baseline from 1987 to 1990. They... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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Research findings published in this month's issue of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry indicate that nutrients in avocados can work together to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells. The analysis was conducted at UCLA where researchers discovered that avocados are the richest source of lutein among commonly eaten fruits. Lutein is a carotenoid that acts as an antioxidant and has been linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer in previous studies(1)(2). According to Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and author of "What Color Is Your Diet?" (Harper-Collins, 2002), the study focused on inhibition of human prostate cancer cell growth when exposed to an extract of whole avocado fru... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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According to new research, there's more to a cup of camomile tea than you may think. Scientists have just discovered that camomile - renowned for its soothing, calming qualities - can also ward off colds and acts as a mild sedative to ease muscle cramps. Used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, the herbal tea, made from the scented flowers and leaves of the camomile plant, now has scientific analysis behind its healthy reputation. Researchers at Imperial College, London, gave 14 volunteers, both men and women, five cups of camomile tea daily for two consecutive weeks. It was found that drinking the tea increased levels of hippurate, a by-product of certain plant-based compounds known as phenoli... [Cancercompass News: Cancer Nutrition]

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Here's a great reason for women to grab a sushi dinner this weekend. Researchers believe seaweed can help prevent breast cancer.

A new study reveals Japanese women, who have a much higher dietary intake of seaweed, have a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. A diet rich in kelp seaweed may reduce the amount of estrogen circulating in the body.

And, that means less fuel for estrogen-dependent cancers. The study is in this month's Journal of Nutrition. [All Headline News - Cancer News and Headlines]

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Women who are overweight prior to breast cancer diagnosis, or who are lean but gain weight following diagnosis, are more likely to have their disease return or die of the disease, a new study shows. This effect was found to be particularly pronounced among women who had never smoked. The study is to be published online January 31 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). [EurekAlert! - Cancer]

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Sunlight reduces risk of lymph gland cancerA new study from Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University shows that, contrary to previous belief, sunlight reduces the chances of developing tumours in the lymphatic glands (malignant lymphoma). The study is to be published in the next number of The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. [EurekAlert! - Cancer]

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Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke in the home (passive smoking) are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer later on as adults, according to results of a massive seven-year European study.

The multi-center EPIC study of environmental or involuntary smoking is one of the largest such studies ever, involving more than 500,000 healthy volunteers in 10 European countries. [cancerfacts.com]

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Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was rarely photographed without a cigar in his hand. Freud developed leukoplakia, a white patch, in his mouth and then cancer of the soft palate.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine provides new evidence that cigar smoking may not have been good for Dr. Freud. It confirms that cigar smoking increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, and lung, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (COPD is a blanket term that covers the progressive lung diseases emphysema and chronic bronchitis.)

The report is of a study of nearly 18,000 men enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California. This number included more than 1,500 cigar smokers, none of whom had smoked cigarettes and none of whom currently smoked a pipe. [MedicineNet Womens Health General]

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