Exercise is critical for good health.
A study published in the November issue of Cancer Causes and Control has indicated that exercise and physical activity helps to reduce one’s risk of getting colon cancer and rectal cancer. On the flip side, lack of physical activity increases the risk. (more…)
Intuitively as well as scientifically, we have a feel of how stress and diet both play large roles in cancer development. A study published in August 2008 in the International Journal of Oncology has given us some clues of how these two factors may interact to affect cancer risk.
In gist – stress induces certain hormones which promote growth, and this in turn seems to promote the growth of cancer cells. The good news is that we can inhibit this process by eating cruciferous vegetables. (more…)
The use of mobile phones is getting more prevalent by the year. And recent research conducted at Tel Aviv University in Israel has found that heavy users of mobiles phones have a 50% higher risk of getting cancer of the salivary glands.
The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and compared the cell phone use of 500 Israelis with salivary gland tumors to that of 1300 Israelis who did not suffer from the disease. (more…)
With the effectiveness and safety of mammograms coming into question, and even coming under fire, the next issue becomes – what is the alternative for women to turn to? The answer could be thermograms.
Thermograms use heat which radiates from one’s own body to detect problems in the breast, and involve a combination of advanced digital technology as well as ultra-sensitive infrared camera imaging. (more…)
I cringe when I read about long lines of women queuing up to have their annual mammograms. I cringe even more when I read about how they are doing this in a bid to “prevent cancer”, or to attempt to lower their chances of succumbing to the disease.
Soon, all that cringing turns to anger, as it often does when it comes to many aspects of conventional medicine. (more…)
Do conventional diagnostic procedures like X-rays and mammograms actually do their part in causing cancer? Does conventional cancer treatment meddle with cancerous conditions which otherwise might have been successfully dealt with via the body’s own defence mechanisms, without the need for invasive intervention?
My own gut feel to both questions has always been yes, and yes. Now, recent research in Norway seems to indicate so, too. (more…)
Have you ever heard of a substance called noscapine? I would guess not; I have not, either.
Noscapine is said to be a naturally-occurring substance which is a non-addictive derivative of opium. It has been effectively and safely used as a cough suppressant for more than half a century. And recent research carried out on mice has found the natural substance to be effective against advanced prostate cancer. (more…)
Most of the time, I am a harsh critic of many areas of conventional medicine, and in particular, conventional cancer treatment. In fact, how it can pass off as “treatment”, I have no idea.
Bottom line – conventional cancer therapy only concentrates on the tumor. In doing so, it is dealing with the wrong thing, and that explains, in large part, its woeful results. (more…)
Yet another piece of research has linked one’s level of physical activity to the risk of getting cancer. As expected, there is an inverse correlation. And this particular study is said to be the first conducted on a non-Western population.
The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and was carried out at the National Cancer Center and Public Health Center in Japan. (more…)
Smoking plays a huge part in causing lung cancer and other respiratory problems – this is common knowledge. But it also greatly raises the risk of getting bladder cancer, something which most of us are unaware of.
Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center looked at information from other studies in the MEDLINE database which had been carried out to find the link between smoking and bladder cancer. Those studies were conducted from 1975 to 2007. (more…)
Cruciferous vegetables are well-lauded for their antioxidant properties and anti-cancer effects. And recent research carried out at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute has further affirmed the latter.
Two separate studies were recently reported, one of which was conducted on rats, which have shown the ability of these vegetables to fight bladder cancer. (more…)
The effects of exercise against cancer are multi-faceted. It can prevent the disease, slow its development, improve recovery from it, as well as prevent it from resurfacing.
How does exercise fight cancer? There are several ways in which the link could be down to. (more…)
A molecule introduced into the body when one consumes red meat or milk could trigger a state of chronic inflammation in one’s body, a situation which then increases the likelihood of cancer developing.
The said molecule is N-glycolylneuraminic acid, or Neu5Gc for short. (more…)
Consumption of red meats and processed meats has long been linked to colorectal cancer.
Now, recent research which was reported in Cancer Research has given an indication that these foods might also cause small intestine cancer, a disease which has been on the rise since the 1970s. (more…)
A recent study at the University College London has found that stress raises the risk of heart problems, including heart attack, by steering people toward undesirable lifestyle habits.
Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the study had tracked 6,576 participants of the Scottish Health Study for a period of 7 years. (more…)
In August 2008, the Harvard School of Public Health released findings of research – the Nurses’ Health Study, which had followed over 85,000 nurses for a period of 14 years.
One finding was that those who consumed 5 ounces or more of nuts each week had 35% lower risk of dying of heart disease. (more…)
The negative health effects of obesity are so many that they are almost uncountable. Here’s another one.
A recent study, published in the December issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, looked at over 287,000 women and their mammogram habits and found that overweight older women had a higher risk of getting advanced breast cancer as compared to older women in the normal weight range. (more…)
According to recent research at the Stony Brook University Cancer Center, Avastin, the cancer drug, increases the risk of blood clot in the veins by about 33% when taken together with chemotherapy. (more…)
Air pollution is bad for the lungs, the nose and the throat. That is pretty obvious.
Now, a study earlier this year, conducted by the University of Southern California, has shown that it directly damages blood vessels too. (more…)
A study in Edmonton, Canada has found that those in the lower income group are of generally poorer health.
The study, released by Capital Health found that the low income group smoked more, drank more alcohol, are physically less active and, overall, are of poor health as compared to their richer counterparts. (more…)
Did your parents live past 100 years of age? If so, then you have better odds of being healthy and living longer too, a recent study has revealed.
The study, conducted at Boston University and Boston Medical Center, looked at over 600 older adults in the United States and found that children of those who lived past 100, or “centenarians”, were also likely to live longer and had greatly lower likelihoods of getting diabetes, a heart attack or stroke over a period of 4 years. (more…)
A study recently published in the November issue of the journal Diabetes Care has suggested a link between eating eggs and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. This applied to both men and women.
For the study, the team examined data from two previous studies, the Physicians’ Health Study I, which involved 20,703 men and ran from 1982 to 2007, as well as the Women’s Health Study, which ran from 1992 to 2007 and involved some 36,295 women. (more…)
A recent study at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has found that hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and other chronic health ailments have increased in incidence among the elderly. This was more or in South LA and the Central Valley.
The study, led by Steven P Wallace, a UCLA professor of public health and co-author of the study, which was based on data from the California Health Interview Survey. The said survey polls some 50,000 households across California every two years. (more…)
A study conducted at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has revealed that people with HIV have a higher risk of getting cancer.
Presented recently at the American Association for Cancer Research, the study, which looked at 11 previous American and international studies, found that people with HIV were twice as likely as the general population to develop cancer. (more…)
According to recent research in Italy, being exposed to benzene, an industrial solvent, increases the risk of getting multiple myeloma. It also increased the risk of developing chronic lymphoid leukemia.
The risk of chronic lymphoid leukemia was also increased with exposure to two other oil-derived industrial chemicals, namely xylene and toluene. (more…)
Divorce can take its toll on one’s mental and emotional state. Not just that, apparently – it seems our physical health will also be affected.
A study conducted at Rostock University in Germany has found that divorcees, on average, die nine years earlier than those who do not get divorced. (more…)
I’m sure you have heard of the phrase, “clean and green”. Now, we perhaps need to coin a new one – “clean and slim”.
According to a study conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine, living in a neighborhood with more greenery actually lowers the risk of children being obese. (more…)