Archive for the 'Cancers' Category

Metro sexual is a common phrase that is becoming even more common with the American public as young and old men are much more concerned about their overall appearance than in the past.

However, according to a new survey by the British Government for Men’s Health Week, this additional touch of vanity may not be a bad thing as it may help men take better care of their appearance as they grow more fearful of growing fat possibly also influencing them to reduce the amount of alcohol they consume.

This is a piece of good news given that the survey results were collected and analyzed after another disturbing report was released that stated men are more likely to develop cancer than women by a factor of 16%. Even worse, men who are diagnosed with cancer are 40% more likely to die from its effects in comparison to women.

Professor David Forman, a researcher with the National Cancer Intelligence Network stated that there is no biological reason that points to why men have an increased risk of death associated to cancer which leads the report analyzers to attribute it to the common male tendency to avoid the doctor and resist following instructions for their own health that do not fit into their comfortable lifestyle.

New research suggests that you increase your risk of developing pancreatic cancer if you consume large amounts of alcohol daily.

The risk goes up significantly when you reach a level that is equivalent to 30 grams or more of ethanol each day.

This is the amount of alcohol you get in 3 glasses of wine, about 4 beers, or just slightly more than 2 typical servings of whiskey or liqueur.

If you remain under this level of alcohol consumption, however, your risk of pancreatic cancer does not seem to increase.

Researchers looked at almost 121,000 individuals who were participating in a study to assess the risks of developing various types of cancer. Of the individuals studied, 350 developed pancreatic cancer. Of those, 79 percent consumed alcohol daily.

There was no specific tie to a particular type of alcoholic beverage, e.g. whiskey did not seem to be more harmful than wine, but rather to the amount of alcohol consumed.

Heavy drinkers were found to be almost twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those who drank moderate amounts or less. Other factors, such as smoking, body mass index, or diet did not seem to make a difference.

In the last twelve months there has been an array of research carried out by various bodies that are all indicating the same thing, which is that vitamin D can not only assist in overcoming infection but it also provides protection from heart diseases and certain cancers.

In Canada, and many other countries researchers are thinking along similar lines, the Canadian Cancer Society is recommending that all citizens have an intake of one thousand units of vitamin D especially in the fall and winter period.

The Framingham Heart Study is renowned and has studied the lives of thousands of Bostonians since the nineteen fifties. These are average, everyday men and women, just getting on with the daily grind and are recognized as a good sample for any data produced.

Cardiologist James O’Keefe from the Kansas City’s Mid America Heart Institute appreciates that the deficiency vitamin D is becoming a factor in the risk assessment for cardiovascular disease.

Therefore it needs to be considered when screening and treating the problem especially, as vitamin d supplements are both, perfectly safe and readily available.

If you are a man with the COX-2 rs4647310 variant, a known risk factor for aggressive prostate cancer, eating a diet high in omega 3 fatty acids can substantially reduce your risk of getting prostate cancer.

In fact, with a diet high in these essential fatty acids, you can reduce your risk to that of someone without the COX-2 gene.

While we have known that a diet rich in these essential fatty acids could help prevent cancer, this is the first indication that it can ameliorate known serious risk factors.

Omega 3 fatty acids are called essential fatty acids because they are essential to our optimal functioning, and because we must ingest them on a daily basis. Unlike other compounds essential to our health, our bodies cannot manufacture them from other foods we eat.

Omega 3 fatty acids have a number of benefits, including reducing inflammation, improving memory, alleviating depression, supporting cardiovascular health, lowering cholesterol and hypertension, as well as providing reduced instances of breast and colon cancer.

Good dietary sources of omega 3 fatty acids include fatty fish like mackerel, sardines, lake trout, albacore tuna and salmon; tofu; flaxseed, canola and soybean oils; flaxseed and walnuts.

After studying the tea drinking habits of people from Golestan Province, Iran, researchers have concluded that drinking scalding beverages may lead to cancer of the esophagus.

The area in question is known for having high rates of esophageal cancer, among the highest in the world in fact, despite having low rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.

The issue seems to be the temperature of the tea. Scalding hot beverages, those at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) or higher, are the worst offenders.

Researchers think that repeatedly exposing the esophagus to such scalding hot beverages could cause heat damage which results in irritation. The exact reason drinking such hot beverages may lead to esophageal cancer is not known.

With tea having many attractive qualities, including great taste, antioxidants, and less caffeine than coffee, there’s no reason to give up your “cuppa.” If you like hot tea, take a cue from the British and take your tea at a more moderate temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius).

Just allowing your beverage to sit for a few minutes after pouring will usually allow it to cool the required amount. Nice china cup will also allow more heat to dissipate than using a thermal insulated mug.

When you or someone you know is given a diagnosis of cancer, things happen very quickly.

A whirlwind of testing and treatment begins before you have really had time to absorb the news, much less plan to get through the weeks and months of treatment to come.

Taking the time to gather some items that will make things easier for the cancer patient is a wonderful gift, whether it is for yourself, someone you know with cancer, or a caregiver.

Here are some items you may wish to include in your cancer care kit:

• A good calendar or day book with spaces for writing down appointments and keeping track of names and telephone numbers
• Items that can help with the nausea so common with cancer chemotherapy, including peppermint candies, sour lemon candies, ginger lollipops, ginger tea, ginger ale, lemon-lime soda, pretzels, plain crackers, etc. An assortment of easy to prepare bland food can also be helpful (instant rice, chicken soup, instant oatmeal, etc.)
• A quality skin emollient like Aquaphor to protect the skin from the effects of cancer radiation therapy
• A moisturizing hand sanitizer in a large size for the home and a smaller travel size

When you have been told you may have cancer, and you are waiting on breast biopsy results, the stress you experience waiting for the results can be just as harmful to your body as if you had received a positive diagnosis.

When you are stressed, you produce cortisol, a hormone often called the stress hormone.

When researchers studied this hormone in women waiting on the results of a biopsy to diagnose breast cancer, they found levels similar to that of women who had already received a positive diagnosis of breast cancer.

What does this mean for you? The last thing you need if you are going to be battling cancer is more stress. Stress can lower your immunity and make it more difficult for your body to heal, things you especially need to avoid if you may be facing cancer treatment.

If you are having a biopsy, talk to your doctor about calling you with the results as soon as they are available, rather than making you wait and schedule a time to come into his office.

Testicular cancer is on the rise, and a behavior that seems somewhat innocuous may be making worse.

There are basically two types of testicular cancer: seminoma, which accounts for about 60% of the cases, is a slower growing cancer that occurs in men aged 30 to 40.

Nonseminoma, which accounts for the remaining 40% of the cases, is an aggressive cancer that usually strikes younger men between the ages of 20 to 35. These younger men are thought to be more susceptible to the worse form of testicular cancer because of their many hormonal changes.

It turns out that if these young men smoke marijuana about once a week, or began smoking marijuana it in adolescence, not only are they twice as likely to develop testicular cancer, but they develop the worse form of testicular cancer, nonseminoma, more frequently as well.

The impact of marijuana smoking on testicular cancer appears to be related to the fact that like the brain, the testes have THC receptors.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical that creates the high that marijuana smokers experience. Other risk factors for testicular cancer, such as a family history of the disease or having undescended testes, did not seem to make a difference among marijuana smokers.

Prostate cancer can be aggressive and require immediate treatment, or it can be so slow growing that old age will likely causes death long before the prostate cancer.

In the case of the latter, slow growing prostate cancer, the risks of treatment, which include impotence and incontinence, may not be worth the benefits. [Prostate Cancer Treatment]

Given these two very different prognosis, determining the exact kind of prostate cancer is essential, and unfortunately fairly complicated.

A new test could help with that problem. Prostate tumors produce chemicals, and it turns out one of those chemicals, sarcosine, is much higher when the patient has the aggressive form of prostate cancer.

The PSA, or prostate specific antigen, test is the most widely used tool for diagnosing prostate cancer. While the PSA can tell you about the presence of prostate cancer, it does not give you information on the type of prostate cancer.

As it turns out, sarcosine seems to be closely linked to how aggressive prostate cancer is. When researchers studying benign tumors in the lab, added sarcosine, the tumors became much more aggressive.

A recent study carried out by the US National Cancer Institute has discovered that people who eat more red and processed meat face a greater risk from cancer and heart disease.

The research was done on more than half a million individuals and concluded that white meat eaters had a reduced risk of death.

Some people studied were eating as much as a daily six ounce steak and those at the lower end of the red meat intake were consuming only 25 grams per day.

It was calculated that between 10 to 15 percent of deaths could be prevented if the big processed meat eaters changed to white. There is already a growing amount of evidence pointing to the risks of a high saturated fat diet, of which red meat is a big source.

Researchers further discovered that meat cooked at high temperatures such as frying, formed more cancer causing components than alternative cooking methods.

UK research in this area has already displayed that cutting down on these foods can make a big difference and that once the public are aware of the facts they do respond and make significant changes to their daily diets.