Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention

Racial and ethnic differences in cancer survival are greatest for cancers that can be more easily detected and treated. including breast and prostate cancer, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University. These differences are small with cancers that are harder to detect and treat such as pancreatic and lung cancer.

The findings, published in the October 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, highlight the need to develop specific health policies and interventions to address social disparities.

Although prior studies have focused on factors that contribute to disparities in specific cancers, the Mailman School researchers’ goal in this study was to understand why racial/ethnic disparities emerge in some cancers but not others. The study used data from more than 580,000 cancer cases in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries to compare racial/ethnic differences in survival across a spectrum of cancers, classified according to their five-year relative survival rates as a measure of how amenable each cancer is to medical interventions. The authors hypothesized that racial/ethnic disparities increase as medical interventions improve overall survival because individuals with more socioeconomic resources are in a better position to exploit medical advances to protect their health.

The results found that, as compared with whites, substantial survival disparities existed in more treatable cancers in African-Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and several subgroups of the Asian/Pacific Islander population.

Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention – Researchers from McGill University in Montreal surveyed nearly 3,600 Canadian men aged 35 to 70 and found those who averaged at least a drink a day had higher risks of a number of cancers than men who drank occasionally or not at all.

These included cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, lungs, pancreas, liver and prostate.

When the researchers looked at individual types of alcohol, though, only beer and “spirits” — and not wine — were linked to elevated cancer risks.

In general, the odds increased in tandem with the men’s lifetime alcohol intake, according to findings published in the Cancer Prevention and Detection. With several cancers, men who drank at least once a day tended to have higher risks than those who drank on a regular, but less-than-daily, basis.

When it came to esophageal cancer, for instance, men who had a drink one to six times per week had an 83 per cent higher risk than teetotalers and less-frequent drinkers, while daily drinkers had a three-fold higher risk.

In addition, when the researchers looked only at daily drinkers, the risks generally increased with the number of years the men had been drinking daily.

“Our results show that the heaviest consumers over the lifetime had the biggest increases in the risks of multiple sites of cancer,” researcher Dr. Andrea Benedetti told Reuters.

Many studies have suggested that moderate drinking — usually defined as no more than a drink or two per day — can be a healthy habit, particularly when it comes to heart disease risk.

But the current study suggested that even such moderate drinking levels are linked to higher risks of certain cancers, at least when the alcohol of choice is beer or liquor.

The question of whether moderate drinkers should cut down, however, cannot be answered by a single study.

The Science Behind Beer and Health
October 2006 (Medialink) – Who knew that beer may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain other chronic diseases related to aging? According to a professor of medicine and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine, it may. Dr. Curtis Ellison spoke at a conference on a panel called, “Beer: To Your Health!,” held by the Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy at the University of Maryland-College Park. This conference reviewed the science on health benefits of moderate beer and alcohol consumption and the challenges of communicating a balanced message to the public.

Brewed from barley, malt and other grains, some studies suggest that beer may have heart-healthy benefits and that older adults who consume moderate amounts of alcohol may have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, osteoporosis – and maybe even obesity.

The key is moderation. U.S. dietary guidelines define “moderation” as one drink per day for women, and two for men. Experts say that for those who choose to drink, alcohol should be consumed with food – and that the total number of alcoholic drinks should not be averaged out for the week. That means people should not save their ‘drink a day’ all week and then have seven drinks on Saturday night.

Or is the cancer another fraud?

Bernard Madoff is serving 150 years in prison for fraud. He defrauded investors of billions of dollars, but hasn’t been diagnosed with cancer and isn’t terminally ill as a newspaper reported, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons said.

The New York Post reported yesterday that Madoff was dying of cancer and that there were rumours he had pancreatic cancer.

“While the N.Y. Post story is full of inaccuracies, and we can’t specifically address all of them, we can tell you that Bernie Madoff is not terminally ill and has not been diagnosed with cancer,” a statement said.

Madoff, 71, is in a medium-security federal prison in Butner, N.C. He pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of fraud, scam, and money laundering – worth $65 billion over 20 years.

He was sentenced to 150 years, which has fuelled speculation that any talk of terminal illness would be a ploy for leniency.

Prison Denies Madoff’s Cancer posted by Sandy Hutchens