Blogger Martha Edwards wrote about it on June 4 -- the fact that cancer cases are soon to explode in Asia, despite the obvious health benefits of Asian-based diets.

It's not the Asian diet influencing rising cancer rates, though. It's the bad Western habits Asians are adopting that will inevitably lead these folks down a dangerous road.

Smoking, drinking, and consumption of unhealthy foods -- all contributors to various cancers -- will drive Asian cancer rates up by 60 percent by the year 2020. Larger aging populations and lack of prevention and treatment in developing countries will also drive this trend.

According to a CBC News report, ancient druids believed mistletoe had magical properties because of the way it grows, never touching the ground and without taking nourishment from the earth. However, University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff researchers are warning there is nothing magical about the use of mistletoe extract for the treatment of cancer, and in fact, it can cause harm.

Serious side effects from the injection of mistletoe extract have been reported in the Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal, including a case concerning a 61-year-old woman who had a tumor-like growth develop under her skin, brought on when she self-injected herself with mistletoe extract. The researchers warn that the use of mistletoe extract has been shown to cause a severe allergic reaction, breathing difficulties, joint pain and kidney failure. Some studies have shown that mistletoe might actually lead to cancer growth.

Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth is quoted as saying, "The idea that mistletoe may help treat cancer is based on that the idea that mistletoe, like cancer, is a parasitic growth that eventually kills its host." The researchers of this published study indicated that there are over 30 mistletoe extract preparations available in Europe, and its use by cancer patients is well-known.

From another source, the National Cancer Institute's overview of mistletoe includes the following:

• Mistletoe is a plant that grows on several types of trees and has been used since ancient times to treat many ailments.
• Mistletoe extract has been shown to kill cancer cells in the laboratory and to boost the immune system.
• Animal studies have suggested that mistletoe may be useful in decreasing the side effects of standard anticancer therapy.
• Many human studies using mistletoe to treat cancer have been done in Europe with unclear results, and a few clinical trials in the United States and abroad are in progress.
• Very few bad side effects have been reported from the use of mistletoe extract, though mistletoe plants and berries are poisonous to humans.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved mistletoe as a treatment for cancer or any other medical condition.
  

To read detailed information about the highlighted overview, visit the NCI's FAQ about mistletoe.

A variation of a virus that infects common household mice might be responsible for one-third of the breast cancer cases occurring in the US, according to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium as reported by WedMD.

The mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), is spread like a cold virus from person to person, although the researchers are not certain if this virus is spread by sneezing or food contamination, or other means of transmission.

Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's Dr. James F. Holland is quoted as saying, "In Asia, the virus plays a very small role in causing the disease. The human breast cancer virus may explain why breast cancer rates differ throughout the world." The house mouse in question is not commonly found in Asia.

For so long, we have been told that the Asian diet pyramid, when compared to the Western diet pyramid, was one of the contributing factors in higher breast cancer cases for US women, and lower breast cancer cases for Asian women. It might well bea contributing factor still, as diet is firmly established as a cause for increasing the risks of all cancers. However, we cannot ignore that the researchers found the common house mouse virus present in the breast cancer tissue samples in 30-40 percent of the women from North America, Europe, and Australia.

That virus plays a role in the development of some cancers is a known, and it brings up interesting questions as to what leads to cancer, and potentially some explanations for the incidence of breast cancer for women who practice what is traditionally considered a healthy lifestyle and have none of the risk factors. Cancer is complex. As time goes on, I believe we are all going to sit back and be surprised at some of the causes for cancer as they are discovered.