Postmenopausal women who consume two or more alcoholic drinks a day may double their risk of endometrial cancer, according to a new study published by Veronica Wendy Setiawan and colleagues at the University of Southern California.

Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive system and accounts for six percent of all cancers in women, according to the NCI.

According to Setiawan, previous studies have shown that alcohol consumption has been associated with higher estrogen levels in postmenopausal women, which could be the mechanism that increases the risk of endometrial cancer.

It's a little disconcerting to heat that "natural" hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could assist in the development of uterine cancer, but that is precisely what research from John Eden (reproductive endocrinology authority) shows.

At hand were specific hand-made HRT lozenges -- and three of the women studied ended up developing endometrial cancer after taking these natural HRT products.

Should HRT be banished from countries across the world? Millions have already done that after 2002 data showed that possible heart ailments could be a result from HRT, but then again, many women swear by HRT as helping then lead a normal life after menopause.

A low-protein, low-calorie diet might prevent the development of some cancers, according to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researchers. Previous research has established that being overweight increases breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colon cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer and esophageal cancer risks but this research indicates findings to suggest that a low-protein, low-calorie diet offers protection in addition and independent of a healthy weight.

What you are eating seems to be as important as how much you eat.

A low-protein, low-calorie diet lowers the levels of a plasma growth insulin-like factor called IGF-1 and hormones responsible for increased cancer risks. High levels of IGF-1 is associated with some cancers and cell proliferation.

The participants in the study were divided into three groups: low-protein, low-calorie, raw food vegetarians; endurance runners who ate a diet higher in calories and protein than the vegetarians; and sedentary people who consumed a diet rich in sugars, processed refined grains and animal products.

Not surprisingly, the sedentary group fared the worst in IGF-1 and hormone levels. However, because exercise is known to provide a cancer prevention benefit, it is a little surprising that the endurance runners had higher levels of IGF-1 and hormone levels that increase the risk of cancer. This has led researchers to the conclusion that the amount of protein and calories consumed plays a greater role than exercise alone in offering optimum cancer prevention.

"Many people are eating too many animal products - such as meat, cheese, eggs and butter - as well as refined grains and free sugars," states Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Washington University. "Our intake of vegetables and fruits is low, and beans are vastly underconsumed in the U.S. and Europe these days. We hope to further clarify what happens to cancer risk when we are chronically eating more protein than we need."

Most of us are aware that October is breast cancer awareness month.

September is also an important awareness month for a few different types of cancer.

• Prostate Awareness: The National Prostate Coalition seeks to increase awareness of prostate cancer by educating the public about the disease, outreach to at-risk communities, and creating an advocacy network during September and throughout the year.
• Childhood Cancer Awareness: The purpose of Childhood Cancer Awareness month is to bring attention to childhood cancer and survivorship issues across the continent.
• Thyroid Awareness: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc encourages people to as for a neck check the next time they visit their doctor.
• Gynecological Awareness: This includes cervical cancer, endometrial, ovarian, uterine, vaginal and vulvar cancers.

So, whether you wear a light blue ribbon for prostate cancer awareness, gold for childhood cancer, purple for thyroid cancer or teal for gynecological awareness we want this month of September to bring awareness to them all!

Let me know if I missed any!

A study led by scientists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center found that women who developed endometrial, or uterine, cancer had a one in fifty chance of having an inherited mutation that could lead to high risk of other cancers.

Those that have the inherited mutation called Lynch syndrome have a higher risk of developing colon, endometrial, ovarian and gastric cancer. The most common cancer for this condition is endometrial cancer.

It is important for women diagnosed with endometrial cancer to be tested for the Lynch syndrome mutation. These women can benefit from knowing that they are at high risk for other cancers by being proactive and making sure they get the correct screening tests on an annual basis.

For women who undergo hysterectomy as part of cancer treatment in becoming a cancer survivor, Hyster Sisters is a woman-to-woman community support website for hysterectomy recovery. With 93,581 members, 1,726,500 posts and 240,569 threads, Hyster Sisters is a vibrant and active destination for women facing the unique challenges of a hysterectomy seeking compassionate and understanding support.

According to Hyster Sisters creator Kathy Kelley, self-admitted avid internet junkie, after having a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral oopherectomy, she began Hyster Sisters as a hobby eight years ago. "I wanted a way to connect women for support and sharing through a difficult process."

From the humble beginnings of free webspace to a domain of its own, membership in Hyster Sisters remains free for all women who come to it seeking a connection with other women who understand and can relate. Kathy has written a book, and there is a Hyster Sisters store of products to ease the journey through surgery and in surviving the new challenges after a hysterectomy. Featured items include the Hyster Sisters Guide, Swelly Belly Band, Chillow Personal Cooling Device, Deluxe Princess Package, Natural Woman Progesterone Cream and a selection of books.

According to a Look Good Feel Better survey, women who are undergoing treatment for cancer believe they are being treated differently at work because of the physical appearance changes that often occur due to cancer treatments. The survey is being released as part of  National Cancer Survivors Day. Some of the findings in the survey report that:

• 69 percent of women indicated their appearance changed during chemotherapy or radiation.
• 83 percent of women indicated they were self-conscious of their appearance during treatment.
• Almost 50 percent of women indicated that the change in their appearance during treatment resulted in friends and co-workers treating them differently.
• Less than 50 percent of women sought help to cope with appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment.
  

Look Good Feel Better is a free, nationwide cancer support program that matches volunteer beauty professionals with small groups of cancer patients to show them how to use cosmetics, wigs and head coverings to camouflage the hair loss, skin discoloration and extreme dryness that can result for cancer treatments. When you go from struggling with a momentary bad hair day to a continuous no-hair day, or unflattering skin conditions that you did not have before cancer treatments, it can get your spirits down. It can be shocking to look in the mirror and not recognize the person staring back. Look Good Feel Better helps 50,000 women each year. For more information about the program, go here.

New birth control pills and contraceptives are already on the market -- or about to be released -- that allow women the option of ending monthly menstruation for good. This option is becoming increasingly popular with women at both the beginning stage and ending stage of their reproductive life.

For women who suffer greatly each month with the physical pain and emotional upsets that can occur during periods, this might be a good option. For other women, it might be a matter of convenience and a way of improving sex life. If you are not actively attempting to get pregnant, this seems like a reasonable option in eliminating periods that do not seem to serve a practical purpose. As I understand it, the pills are far safer than the contraceptive pills of the past, with much lower doses of estrogen and progestin. However, it is still a birth control type pill, and the warnings remain the same. If you are over 35 and smoke, you are advised not to use it. If you are a cancer survivor diagnosed with cancers fueled by hormones, you are advised not to use this method of controlling monthly menstrual cycles. This pill still increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and blood clots.

On the other side of the coin -- according to research -- these birth control type pills might lower risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer. But, hormones operate in the body on so many complex levels, and regulate so many other systems within the body, I do not know that scientists understand the complexities enough to tell women that halting a hormone process for an indefinite amount of time by manipulating estrogen and progestin is safe for long-term health. Especially when it comes to cancers that are hormone-driven.

It's Mother's Day! and the first day of the 7th annual National Women's Health Week. When you wish your mother a Happy Mother's Day, and you give her a hug, and a gift, and say "I love you" -- tell her thank you for taking care of me -- now please take care of you.

"One of the best gifts you can give your mother or yourself is to schedule a check-up visit with a health care provider," said Dr. Wanda Jones, Director of HHS Office on Women's Health. The goal of National Women's Health Week is to encourage women to take simple steps for a longer, healthier, and happier life.

As part of National Women's Health Week is the National Women's Check-up Day on May 15, where women across the country will attend over 1,000 events focusing on women's health. Getting annual screenings for breast, cervical and ovarian cancer are essential to finding cancer in the earliest stages and critical to cancer survival. So today, tell your mother that you can't imagine life without her, and ask her to schedule a visit to the doctor for simple tests that will help her live long and healthy. Check out the women's health information, resources and event calendar provided by the organizers of National Women's Health Week.

Of the many special issues facing young adults who receive a cancer diagnosis is the concern over fertility. Cancer, chemotherapy, and certain surgeries, can diminish or eliminate the possibility of conceiving a child later on in life. Both women and men can suffer temporary or permanent infertility. New guidelines set out by the American Society of Clinical Oncology hope to provide consistent and comprehensive recommendations for fertility and cancer.

• Discussion about infertility as a potential risk of cancer therapy should be initiated with patients of childbearing age as early as possible after diagnosis.
• Physicians should identify whether the patient is at risk for treatment-induced infertility and should discuss with the patient their concerns about infertility and interest in fertility preservation, as well as available treatment options, and the best time to undergo fertility preservation measures, before beginning cancer treatment.
• Patients interested and eligible for fertility preservation should be referred to reproductive specialists to facilitate decision-making and fertility treatment planning.

According to the experts, the two methods of fertility preservation with the highest likelihood of success in cancer patients are embryo cryopreservation for women and sperm cryopreservation for men. However, these procedures take time, and cancer patients considering these options need to do so as soon as possible after the cancer diagnosis.

Cancer Research UK has announced its plans to develop new treatments from anti-cancer drugs that have been abandoned by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The cancer charity is asking for the opportunity to take these anti-cancer drugs and develop them for possible new cancer treatments. Under the terms of the Clinical Development Partnership, CDP, the charity would test the drugs in early trials at no cost to the company. If the drugs show promise at the end of the clinical trials, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies could retain the option to develop and market them and the charity would receive a share of the revenue.

According to the people at Cancer Research UK, developing a new drug can take a decade or more and cost as much as 500 million pounds. Only about eight percent of molecules tested in phase-one safety trials make it to market. For anti-cancer drugs the odds are even lower. In addition, mergers in the pharmaceutical industry have resulted in competing programs and hard choices about which compounds to develop -- resulting in many molecules being abandoned from further research. Sounds like a win-win-win proposition -- for the cancer patient, the cancer charity, and the cancer drug companies.

Menopause naturally happens in a woman's life some time between the age of 45 to 55. In the case of chemo-induced menopause, there is no traditional timeline. For younger women, menopause brought on by chemotherapy can be a temporary phase or permanent transition. For women already nearing the age when menopause might start to occur, chemotherapy can push them into it a few years early. But -- however a woman reaches the menopause phase of life -- the experience of menopause is universally the same. Knowing this, Jeanie Linders, a writer, produced the first Menopause The Musical in 2001. According to information provided on the show website, "Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a grassroots movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges that result in the mental, physical and spiritual freedom of over 38 million baby boomer females." According to the audience, it is hilarious!

Janet Rigdon wanted to see the musical, but it wasn't going to be touring anywhere near where she lived, so she emailed Linders to ask if the show could make a stop in her town. That's the beauty of email -- you can do that sort of thing. Rigdon told Linders she was an ovarian cancer survivor who felt the musical was something women cancer survivors like her and her support group of women friends could relate to when she said, “I told her we could go to dinner and then play, and take our minds off cancer for one night. We want to laugh too.”

After getting to know Rigdon through email conversations, Linders decided to use the show to raise awareness and research funds for ovarian cancer. Through the musical's Women Foundation, a national ovarian cancer campaign was launched under the banner Menopause the Musical Out Loud: Breaking the Silence of Ovarian Cancer. Rigdon and her friends got to see the show, and through the wonder of web email, a new campaign for cancer was launched -- in the form of a laugh out loud musical.

Thanks to Sue of My Menopause Blog for the introduction to a musical about menopause! Who knew. 

Yesterday, the television news was on in the background as I sat at my computer working. I heard a male newscaster say, "Hooray for HRT!" I stopped to listen to what he meant by the lead-in announcement to the story, because frankly, I thought perhaps he had lost all sense of objectivity. But indeed, he was reporting on the results of a new study, which is part of the NIH-funded Women's Health Initiative, that suggests postmenopausal women who take estrogen as a hormone replacement therapy do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

HRT is most often prescribed to relieve menopausal symptoms, and to protect the heart and bones from damage resulting from the natural loss of estrogen women experience during and after menopause. Menopausal symptoms can be major, and for many women, limiting when it comes to quality of life. But for women at risk, or diagnosed with, estrogen-positive breast cancer, HRT would seem, by all rational consideration, not a smart choice.

We have been told that hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women can lead to increased risks for breast cancer. We have been told that hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women does not lead to increased risks for breast cancer. So, is it safe? Or is it dangerous? I don't know, but as a woman with estrogen-positive breast cancer, I am not going to the take a chance by introducing any more estrogen into my body, and frankly, I cannot imagine a doctor who would prescribe it as a therapy for me. To find more in depth information, go here.

There is a bridge from this world to the next, from the physical to the spiritual realms, that philosophers and poets cross over easily, and return again, with just as much ease. What they bring back are concepts and thoughts to nourish the hungry soul. Shelly, a cervical cancer survivor fighting a recurrence of cervical cancer, who blogs Accidental Runner, is both philosopher and poet blogging about hope, time and love.
 
"The Internet is this wonderful thing, full of information, opportunity and people. We reach out and find commonality that crosses continents, cultural and age differences. We make new friends, find support in our darkest moments, and sometimes, we find love. So the Internet has bred this whole group of wanderers - modern nomads and gypsies willing to take a chance on love. It seems implausible to those who have never experienced this. How can anyone possibly *love* someone they’ve never met? It sounds rather ridiculous, doesn’t it?" No, it does not sound ridiculous at all.

From MSN Spaces, Accidental Runner has a new home, a place of its own. From where Accidental Runner began last year, Shelly decided to take up running for her health. Her goal became the Richmond Marathon, but her health prevented that from happening. She is no longer running at all now, as her health will not permit it. Shelly invites you to walk with her instead, and talk with her in her new blog home. I say listen. Many run a marathon. Shelly can cross the invisible bridge connecting two worlds, and what she has to share can take the soul a thousand miles in no time at all.

The Fairygodmother Foundation, who grants wishes to adults facing terminal illness, recently celebrated seven years of granting hundreds of wishes in 47 states to adults facing terminal illness. The foundation has granted wishes to a range of adults with terminal illness, from a young man in his twenties, battling leukemia, to a mother of three fighting breast cancer. With the generous support of individuals, recreational businesses and corporate donations, The Fairygodmother Foundation has granted nearly 700 wishes in seven years. Of the adults the foundation serves, 80 percent have children. The wishes become a way to leave lasting memories of a happy experience for the families of a terminally ill family member.

The Fairygodmother Foundation started out small, and was only able to grant 19 wishes the first year. The dedicated group behind this foundation prove that a good idea with a mission of making the world a little better place for people in need, can grow from humble beginnings. It is simply a matter of beginning, and working, one step at a time, towards a vision and purpose to make a positive difference.