Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention

Having sex at an early age can double the risk of developing cervical cancer, a study of 20,000 women suggests.

The investigation into why poorer women have a higher risk of the disease found they tended to have sex about four years earlier than more affluent women.

Previously, it had been thought the disparity was the result of low screening uptake in poorer areas.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Although the difference in cervical cancer incidence between rich and poor – across the world – had been noted for many years, it was not clear why this is the case.

Especially as rates of infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) – the sexually transmitted infection linked with the vast majority of cervical cancers – seemed to be similar across all groups.

The study confirmed that the higher rates of cervical cancer were not linked to higher HPV levels.

But what it did reveal is that the two-fold increased risk was largely explained by women from poorer backgrounds starting to have sex at a younger age.

The age at which a woman had her first baby was also an important factor.

Screening was found to have some effect on the level of risk.

But the number of sexual partners a woman has and smoking did not account for any of the difference.

Sandy Hutchens likes coffee as much as the next guy. But he was surprised to find out that it may prevent cancer.

Harvard researchers are finding an intriguing link between coffee and the prevention of an aggressive type of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer kills 27,000 men annually. So this research comparing the history of thousands and thousands of men raises the possibility of a simple and effective prevention in this deadly disease.

The researchers discovered that men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day had a 60 percent lower risk developing the advanced form of the disease when compared to men who drank no coffee at all.

Even men who drank just one to three cups are showed a lower risk, about 20 percent, of developing the aggressive cancer.

Prostate cancer specialist Dr. Ihor Sawczuk, of Hackensack University Medical Center, says the researchers were not exactly sure what it is about the coffee that might affect the cancers. But he says it’s too early to recommend boosting coffee drinking to men, although one cup of coffee might be helpful.

“I think those that don’t drink coffee should consider perhaps a cup a day may help build up their immune system,” he said. “I think what we need to remember is there may be more to this story.”

And finding out more details will be the next job for researchers. Because one study is not enough for scientists, the findings will need to be confirmed.

But if coffee helps prevention, it’s a bonus for those who already drink it and a simple benefit for those who don’t.

Prostate cancer survivor Richard Williamson has made some already-proven lifestyle changes for his recovery. He’s lost 25 pounds, walks two miles daily and, because he doesn’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, now frequents a health food store near his home to get his vegetables in a drink he likes.

“I do my walk and then I stop there,” he said. “I do that three or four times a week.”

Other proven prevention habits include:

“Decrease the total amount of fat, taking good fat, for example, the omega-3,” Dr. Sawczuk said. “Tomatoes have lycopene, especially the skin of tomatoes. These are good substancse to ingest. Soy products, apples, perhaps even a glass of red wine.”

And now, maybe a cup of coffee or two. One way coffee might be working is that it’s known to help the body use insulin. And high insulin has already been proven to increase risk of prostate cancer.

The discussion as to whether cell phones cause brain cancer continues. The Danish Cancer Institute just released perhaps the most extensive research to date.

The 30-year study, which covers cell phone use in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden from 1974 to 2003, found no link between mobile phones and brain cancer. However, the authors of the report conceded that more research is needed on the topic.

According to an abstract, the study showed a lack of a “trend change in [brain cancer] incidence from 1998 to 2003,” when cell phone use showed a marked increase in Scandinavia. That suggests that the induction period relating mobile phone use to brain tumors exceeds five to 10 years. The report concludes that “the increased risk in this population is either too small to be observed, the increased risk is restricted to subgroups of brain tumors or mobile phone users, or there is no increased risk.”

In August, an international group of electromagnetic field activists offered criticism of an Interphone study on handsets and cancer, a 13-country research effort funded in part by the telecom industry.

According to groups, including the EMR Policy Institute and the Radiation Research Trust, the Interphone study was systemically skewed because it was commissioned on behalf of wireless handset manufacturers.

The activists argued that the study ignored many types of brain tumors; excluded people who had died or were too ill to be interviewed as a consequence of their brain tumors; and excluded children and young adults potentially at higher risk than mature segments of the population.

Cell Phone and Brain Cancer