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.

According to a study from the Karolinkska Institute in Sweden, alcohol consumption may lower the risk of kidney cancer. The researchers found that the odds of developing kidney cell cancer was 40 percent lower among those who consumed 620 g of ethanol per month versus those who did not drink at all.

Drinking more than two glass of red wine per week was associated with a 40 percent reduction in kidney cell cancer risk compared with drinking no red wine and there were similar trends for white wine and strong beer. There was no correlation between kidney cell cancer risk and light beer, medium beer, strong wine or hard liquor.

The researchers write that the reduced risk associated with wine and beer might be due to the phenolics they contain, which possess antioxidant and antimutagenic properties. However, since the risk also seems to be correlated with ethanol intake overall, they speculate that the alcohol itself might also play a role.

One in five Americans will get skin cancer. Those are scary statistics, but the first step in fighting any condition is knowing about it and how to prevent it. Obviously, one of the main things you need to do when you have skin cancer is protect yourself from the sun, but your diet also plays a key role. Here are some suggestions for avoiding skin cancer through eating:

• Cut back on alcohol -- heavy drinkers are 65% more likely to get skin cancer
• Polyunsaturated fats are considered a good fat, but they can also weaken your immune system so don't assume you can go crazy on the vegetable oil
• Antioxidants are consistently linked to a decreased chance of cancer. To up your antioxidant intake, try to eat lots of the following: berries, oranges, spinach, grapes, kale, broccoli, beats, red peppers, carrots and much more. If you already have a healthy diet full of fruits and veggies, you probably won't need to make any changes.
  

As Heather reported on earlier today, another blow to alcohol consumption has been found. European research released this week shows a connection between alcohol consumption and the possibility of developing bowel cancer.

The research concluded that people who drink one or two glasses of beer or win per day increase their chances of developing rectal (bowel) cancer by 10 percent. Is that number such a big deal? Absolutely.

Sound like a low amount? It's not -- and the researchers apparently looked at more than 500,000 people in the study, so the results are quite statistically significant. Out of that population, 18,000 people were found to have bowel cancer and the researchers dug in deep until they found out the correlation(s) with certain lifestyle choices.

It's always a good idea to have alcohol in very moderate amounts (although wine has been found to be healthy and not healthy), and this research points to more evidence to support that point. Will you abandon alcohol completely, though?

Unless you've been touched by it, cancer can seem a world away. But it's not, and no matter your age, there are steps you should be taking to avoid getting cancer. My Doc Hub has compiled this list of thing you should be doing now to avoid getting cancer in the future. They are:

-Maintain a healthy weight
-Exercise regularly
-Don't smoke
-Eat healthy
-Cut your alcohol consumption
-Cover up in the sun
-Don't have unprotected sex
-Compile a medical and family history
-Talk to your doctor about risk factors and getting screened

If you're not doing these things right now, there's no time like the present.

It seems to me like health experts are always going back and forth on the subject of alcohol -- one day it's good for you, the next it's going to kill you. Well, today it appears it is good for you, as it has been shown to reduce the risk of renal cell (kidney) cancer in a study that tested non-drinkers compared to those who consumed one alcoholic beverage a day. But the article is quick to point out that it's not saying that drinking is good for you overall, as alcohol has been shown to be linked to other cancers, including breast cancer and cancers of the oral cavities, esophagus and more.

So I guess the moral of the story is, don't take up drinking to prevent kidney cancer, yet don't give up drinking as it might help ward it off. Huh? I think there is way too much information out there on what's good for you and what's bad for you to really take it all seriously. Live a healthy life, eat well, partake in occasional activity and enjoy the things you enjoy in moderation -- the rest is up to nature if you ask me.

What do you think?

Guys, here's another reason to have a glass of red wine with dinner: It can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. That's good news if you like red wine but I know some men, including my fella, think that drinking wine is not far from drinking turpentine, in terms of taste at least. But if you can stomach it, don't feel bad about enjoying a glass or two on a regular or semi-regular basis. It has lots of health benefits if you don't go overboard (notice I said a glass or two, not a glass or bottle.)

Should we be taking this recommendation seriously, do you think? Or do to risks associated with alcohol consumption outweigh the benefits?

My fellow blogger Jacki recently posted about the effect of alcohol and breast cancer risk in her post titled Thought for the Day: Bingeing and breast cancer.

But why does alcohol consumption stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells?

A study in mice shows that alcohol consumption stimulated the growth and progression of breast cancer by the development of new blood vessels - a process called angiogenesis.

The article stated that "It does this by boosting expression of a factor known as vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF". Dr. Jian-Wei Gu and colleagues from the University of Mississippi Medical Center examined the effects of tumor growth in mice.

For 4 weeks, 6-week old female mice consumed regular drinking water or water containing 1 percent alcohol, which is equivalent to about 2 to 4 drinks in humans. In week 2, the animals were inoculated with mouse breast cancer cells.

"We found after about 4 weeks that breast tumor size almost doubled in mice that drank alcohol compared to control mice given plain water," Gu noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health. Moderate alcohol intake also caused a noteworthy increase in tumor blood vessels compared with no alcohol intake.

"VEGF can promote the formation of new blood vessels," Gu said. "This suggests that alcohol can induce tumor angiogenesis."

It only takes two bottles of wine consumed over the course of one weekend to more than double the risk of breast cancer, according to a Danish study of 17,647 women which breaks down like this: women who drank 22-27 drinks per week had twice the risk for the disease compared to those who drank only one to three drinks.

Think about this:

More than a quarter of participants, age 44 and older, drank more than the recommended 14 drinks per week. One in 10 were binge drinkers -- they had more than four drinks per day. Thirteen percent were weekend bingers -- they had more than 10 drinks between Friday and Sunday. A drink is considered one bottle of beer, wine, or spirit. In Denmark, each unit translate into 12g of alcohol.

Published in the European Journal of Public Health, this study found breast cancer risk is greatest when drinks are consumed in a short period of time. This is because the concentration of alcohol in the blood peaks, making it more harmful to the body.

"What our study suggests is that the total amount of alcohol consumed has a detrimental effect on the risk of breast cancer, but also the drinking pattern seems to have an impact," says lead researcher Dr. Lina Morch.

The bottom line: to reduce the risk of breast cancer, women must limit the amount of alcohol they drink.

Spring is here. Time to clean the house. And time to give the 'ol body a once-over too.

According to Chinese medicine, spring is the best time of the year to cleanse the body. So if you're feeling lethargic, sluggish, and just plain weighed down, consider these invigorating tips from Penelope Sach's book Detox: Regaining your health and vitality.

Think about this:

• Cut back on white flour products, sweets, and alcohol.
• Drink one glass of water every hour to flush out excess sugar in your system.
• Up your intake of herbal teas.
• Add natural detoxifying agents to your diet, such as cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, fish, and eggs.

Cancer cases are expected to more than double between the years 2000 and 2030, says the director of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

This upward climb will occur primarily in poor countries due to an increase in population growth, longer life expectancy, more smoking, and a lack of health care in low and medium-resource countries.

"What's going to happen between now and 2030 is that the population is going to increase from about 6.5 billion to 8 billion in 2030," Dr. Peter Boyle reports. "So even if the risks remain constant at each five-year age group, because we've got more people around, we're going to have more cases of cancer.

It's the unfortunate successes for developed countries over the past 40 years, such as the export of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, that have doomed poorer countries, says Boyle.

Consider this definition of doom: By the year 2030, there will be 27 million cases of cancer, 17 million deaths caused by the disease, and 75 million people living with cancer.

Time to test your smarts -- about sleep, sun, food, and alcohol.

Just read the following questions, pick an option and then scroll down to determine if you really know what's best for your health.

• Is it healthier to sleep an extra hour or force yourself out of bed in the morning to exercise?

• Is it healthier to spend 15 minutes in the sun without sunscreen or two hours in the sun wearing SPF 30?

• Is it better to have a second glass of wine at dinner or a sinful dessert?

When Dr. Jian-Wei Gu went to Mississippi to study the cardiovascular system and the process of blood vessel growth, he had no idea he'd make national headlines about his research into the world of cancer.

Gu, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, says his discovery of the mechanism by which alcohol consumption causes tumor growth was purely accidental.

And extremely significant.

Scientists have known for a hundred years about the link between alcohol consumption and cancer. A study from Paris in 1910 showed that 80 percent of patients with cancer of the esophagus or gastric track were alcoholics. More recently, scientists have found correlations between alcohol consumption and cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, large bowel, and even the breasts. Yet lab experiments have always failed to show the effects in animals that investigators knew to be true in humans.

Until now.

It seems past studies used too much alcohol -- in concentrations of 20 percent -- and the animals just wasted away while showing no tumor growth. But when Gu used concentrations of one percent -- about one to two drinks per day in humans -- to study blood vessel growth, he detected stimulated tumor growth in both chick embryos and mice. Thus, his cancer discovery was born.

Gu has further concluded that melanoma cancers in mice grew significantly faster and larger in the mice who consumed the equivalent of one or two alcoholic drinks a day than the mice receiving no alcohol.

Gu's findings, now confirmed by other scientists, are evidence of what many have long suspected -- alcohol, even in moderation, increases cancer risk.

Simply being female puts all women at risk for breast cancer. That and age, race, family history, personal history, genetic make-up, when they had children, when they reach menopause, and a whole host of other possible factors.

Now U.S. doctors are officially calling body mass index, breast density, and alcohol consumption predictors of the disease, says Therese Bevers, medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Bevers helped write updated guidelines for the prevention of breast cancer and presented them at the 12th annual National Comprehensive Cancer Network in Hollywood, Florida on Friday.

The guidelines, featuring the revised list of risk factors, also offer treatment options for women -- including bilateral mastectomy for women who have tested positive for the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 as well as possible medical treatments with drugs such as tamoxifen and raloxifene.

There's no mystery about how we might help prevent cancer. In fact, we don't even need to venture out of our own minds to figure it all out.

Consider this.

"We estimate that more than 50 percent of cancer incidence could be prevented if we act today on what we already know," says Graham Colditz, M.D., Dr.P.H., and associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

And now consider these seven methods for acting on what we already know about cancer prevention.

One. Lose weight and exercise more. It is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the most common cancers in the United States are directly attributed to being overweight or physically inactive.

Two. Eat right. Plant-based diets help prevent cancer. Eating fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer. Diets high in red meat and animal fat increase the risk of cancer. End of story.

Three. Quit smoking. We all know smoking is associated with lung cancer, but it's also linked to cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach. Within five years to 10 years, there is a 50 percent reduction in cancer risk for those who stop smoking.

Four. Limit alcohol intake. While a few studies claim there are health benefits to drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages, most data show overconsumption of alcohol increases the risk of oral, esophageal, and breast cancers.

Five. Increase folate intake. Epidemiological studies suggest that low folate levels promote cancer development. Experts recommend taking a multivitamin with folate every day.

Six. Stay in the shade. Limiting long-term exposure to the sun and tanning beds, booths, and lamps minimizes the risk of developing skin cancer.

Seven. Avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical cancer. Hepatitis B and C viruses can cause liver cancer. Helicobacter pylori causes stomach cancer. It's critical that we protect ourselves during sexual contact if we wish to protect ourselves from cancer.