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Posts with tag colon cancer
Posted Aug 20th 2007 2:40PM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Nutrition
Are you a fan of eggplant, blueberries or red seedless grapes? If you, listen up -- these dark-colored fruits and vegetables, according to new research, may help
protect you against colon cancer.
I'm of the mind that blueberries harness one of the best arsenals of natural cancer-fighting nutrition known to the planet, so it's good to see a new study reiterate this fact. Ever try fresh blueberries on top of 100% whole-grain waffles? Makes an excellent breakfast, while at the same time giving your body a shower of anti-cancer nutrition.
Evidence has shown in the past that anthocyanins (the dark color compounds in some fruits and veggies) can slow the growth of colon cancer cells by 50 to 80 percent. This just in -- they taste fantastic as well.
Posted Aug 16th 2007 1:41PM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Nutrition
Colon cancer kills an estimated 600,000 people globally each year. according to the latest statistics. How are some of those future cancer deaths going to be prevented? In another arrow in the quiver regarding the importance of proper food and nutrition, a new survey says that
diet plays a very strong role in the development of colon cancer.
Specifically, a "Western" diet that consists of fat read meat, processed foods and refined sugars is among (if not) the worst diet you can force upon the body. It continues to be no surprise, then, that cancer rates that loom larger every year are the resultant effect. Eve with genetic predisposition t cancer, the human body was not made for the junk a Western-type diet provides.
I like this quote by Jeffrey Meyerhardt of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts: "It's not really increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables, but really trying to reduce the amount of red meat intake and fatty foods and sugary 'desserty' [sweet desserts] foods, that seems to be protective for colon cancer recurrences and survival."
Posted Aug 15th 2007 2:01PM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer
In another study on the affects of diet on cancer, those colon cancer patients who indulged in diets containing meat, desserts, fat and refined grains were three times more likely to have a colon cancer recurrence than those who shifted their post-cancer diet away from these unhealthy items.
Surprised? Shouldn't be --
diet and cancer are so closely related that eating foods with tons of saturated fats and chemicals can take a genetic predisposition to cancer and speed it along.
What's important here is that after cancer treatment (hopefully, successful), one should change their diet to one full of healthy options instead of bad nutritional choices. It's all up to each individual patient.
Posted Aug 12th 2007 8:24AM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, may offer an alternative to conventional colonoscopy, according to a new
study.
MRI does not require the insertion of a long tube in the rectum and with the use of a special technique called fecal tagging, patients do not have to undergo bowel cleansing as in conventional colonoscopy. An advantage of conventional colonoscopy over MRI is that polyps that are detected can be removed or biopsied during the procedure.
The study found that MRI can accurately detect polyps that have potential to become cancerous, but is not as good as detecting small polyps. According to the lead author on the study, Dr. Christiane A. Kuehle, MRI colonography was good at detecting polyps greater than 5 millimeters in diameter, but nearly always missed smaller polyps.
The researchers believe that conventional colonoscopy will remain the screening method of choice for colon cancer.
Posted Aug 11th 2007 12:37PM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Diets
A new
study suggests that choline, a nutrient found in red meat, poultry and dairy, may contribute to the development of intestinal polyps, which can lead to colon cancer. The study was led by Eunyoung Cho, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The study was of more than 39,000 nurses, who all happened to be women. The women were originally free of colon cancer and then had at least one endoscopic examination performed. Polyps were found in more than 2,400 of the women. Women who ate the most choline were 1.45 times more likely to have polyps. Having more polyps does not necessarily mean more cancer and further studies will have to examine whether those who ate the most choline developed the most tumors, in addition to studying the effects of choline in men.
Cho cautions that this study is preliminary and that dietary changes should not be made as a result of it. According to Regina Ziegler of the NCI who wrote a commentary on the new study, current dietary advice to eat lots of fiber and fruits and vegetables "isn't likely to change even if choline turns out to be a possible villain." As for now, "people shouldn't run out and start either taking more choline or less choline," she said.
Posted Aug 2nd 2007 6:50PM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Research, Daily news
The first step in finding a cure to cancer is finding out exactly what causes it. Scientists are making headway, at least a far as colon cancer is concerned, with new findings that show that colon cancer may be a disease of hormone deficiency.
The key here is GCC (guanylyl cyclase C), a protein receptor located on the intestines, which interacts with two hormones, guanylin and uroguanylin, to regulate growth of the organ. But it's thought that when colon cancer is in its early stages, these hormones are mostly absent, which gives way to the growth of tumors (for an more in-depth explanation,
check out the full article here.) So then it's thought that if GCC can be stimulated, it would block tumors from growing.
This new approach to colon cancer is promising to scientists because, as clinical pharmacologist Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., points out, '
it's a completely different way of thinking about the disease ... Not only does this give a new paradigm in how we think about the disease, but it gives us a new paradigm for treating the disease -- that is, by hormone replacement therapy.'Posted Aug 1st 2007 11:19AM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer
One thing that simply never ceases to leave from the media these days is the subject of coffee drinking. Is it good for you or bad? Studies abound on this issue, and the only real consensus is confusion it seems.
So, let's try another one: a recent piece of research from Japan concluded that consuming
three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half. By half?
I wonder if the antioxidant level in coffee has anything to do with that if in fact there is validity to the study. It looked at information from more than 96,000 men and women aged between 40-69 over a period of up to 12 years, so I'm thinking the study has some validity (without looking deeper). The researchers did state that the mechanism in coffee that seemed to have a cancer prevention effect was unknown.
Posted Jul 30th 2007 9:11AM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, All Cancers
The New York Times profiled cancer this past weekend in a feature entitled,
Cancer Patients, Lost in a Maze of Uneven Care.
Their main article follows Karen Pasqualetto, 35, as she perseveres through a complex maze of physicians and treatments in search of the best care for her stage IV colon cancer, which was diagnosed shortly after the birth of her first child.
The article addresses the uneven quality of cancer care in the U.S. and the difficulty that patients encounter as they attempt to navigate the system in the search for the best care. Healthcare disparities are also addressed, including gaps in access to top cancer care and early detection screenings.
One of the most disturbing parts of the article is a rundown of different cancers and how many patients do not receive the care that gives them the best chance at increasing survival. For example, for pancreatic cancer patients, 38 percent of patients who were eligible for surgery do not receive it. In another example, for breast cancer patients, 15 to 25 percent of women who should have radiation do not and 20 to 30 percent do not take anti-estrogen drugs.
As for Ms. Pasqualetto, she eventually received a liver and colon surgery to remove tumors and has now survived 12 months, far longer than the six month prognosis originally given to her by her first doctor. She credits this good fortune to both her determination and her access to excellent healthcare coverage.
Posted Jul 19th 2007 8:51PM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Drug, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Daily news
It's good news if you live in Alberta, like I do, or even if you don't, it's a step in the right direction on a larger scale:
The cost of a very pricey colon cancer treatment will be footed by the government at an expense of $7M per year. The place I live in is notorious for putting healthcare on the backburner and making more money for already-wealthy oil executives on the front burner, so I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that at least some patients in this messed-up system get the treatment they deserve at the expense of the government. Sorry -- rant over.
The drug in question is called Oxaliplatin and it's been shown to be an extremely effective tool in fighting colorectal cancer. In the wake of announcements like this, not to mention eye-opening movies like
Sicko, I hope North America is heading in the right direction -- and dying or gravely ill patients won't be denied access to the drugs that could save their lives.
Posted Jul 12th 2007 3:15PM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Celebrity in memoriam
Patricia reported earlier this week that movie critic Joel Siegel had died of colon cancer at the age of 63. Unlike almost everyone in North America, I'm not that into movies and though I had heard Siegel's name, I didn't really know much about him. But I wish I did, after watching
this video on Siegel's life, his fight with cancer and his undying support for a cause he so firmly believed in; Cancer awareness.
After Siegel's first wife died of brain cancer at a young age, the critic began to talk publicly about cancer, and it's with tragic irony that he passed away from the disease that worked so hard to fight. Siegel's final days were marked with deep regret that he didn't get screened for cancer sooner, as his doctors told him that if he had been tested a mere 3 years earlier, he would have had a much better chance at seeing his young son grow up.
Cancer's lost a brave and powerful spokesperson, and I hope his message and memory lives on for a long time.
Posted Jul 11th 2007 8:55AM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer
A
report in
Gastroenterology advises that if you need a repeat colonoscopy due to an incomplete colonoscopy, you should find a specialized medical center for the procedure.
An incomplete colonoscopy occurs when the full length of the colon, up to the point where it joins the small intestine, cannot be examined. Being a woman and being elderly increases the chance of having an incomplete colonoscopy. Having the procedure done in a private office also increases this likelihood.
Dr. Hemant A. Shah and a research team from the University of Toronto found that out of more than 331,000 colonoscopies, 13.1 percent were incomplete.
Individuals who underwent colonoscopy in a private office were more than 3 times as likely to have an incomplete procedure as those having their procedure in an academic hospital.
Posted Jul 9th 2007 1:27PM by Brian White
Filed under: Prostate Cancer, Colon and Rectal Cancer
Newly concluded scientific research has uncovered that a DNA change recently connected to prostate cancer also can signify an increased in the risk for colon cancer.
The variant gene (rs6983267) increases the chance of a colorectal malignancy by about 20 percent, according to scientists. Oddly though,
about half of all the global populations studied carry the gene variancy. That is one prevalent genetic mutation, yes?
About 7,500 colon cancer patients were studied against 7,800 control subjects, and researchers again honed in on a specific gene that had already been identified as causing an increased risk of prostate cancer. Preliminary thinking concludes that one genetic variance may be responsible for increasing specific cancer risks -- but who's to say there are not more specific cancers whose likelihood id not controlled by this gene as well?
Posted Jun 19th 2007 11:40AM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer
Low-carb diets like the Atkin's Diet may actually increase the risk of bowel cancer, according to scientists. The link between a specific kind of fatty acid production in the gut and consuming carbohydrates may be the cause, as a lack of those fatty acids (called butyrates) protect against colorectal cancer.
Low-carbohydrates diets, which were made famous by the Atkin's Diet,
cause a four-fold reduction in the butyrate cancer-fighting bacteria, and therefore reduce the body's capability to fight off bowel cancer by itself.
This is quite an interesting development, since low-carb diets are still popular today and are followed by millions of people in the U.S. It makes sense, however, that major diet changes can spark up the risk of certain cancers, so oddly enough, maybe this should not be a total surprise.
Posted Jun 14th 2007 2:31PM by Brian White
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Diets, Cancer prevention foods
It's been known that
olive oil is a good colon cancer preventer, but what about whole diets based on Mediterranean principles? Although a study is now beginning at the University of Michigan on how a Mediterrean diet can help prevent colon cancer, the consumption of olive oil and nuts should already be in a healthy person's diet, right?
Olive oil is great for cooking just about everything (and it's good for making low-calorie salad dressings as well), but eating as those in the Mediterrean area eat is a great recipe for health. And -- surprise --
prevention of certain types of cancer (in this instance, colon cancer).
This current research which just started does make the point that eating patterns are more important to cancer prevention than the intake of isolated and independent nutrients. this is true -- whole diets are quite the important facet of healthy living (and cancer prevention) -- not specific nutrients that may not be as effective as they could be.
Posted Mar 24th 2006 5:30PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Prevention
Carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines
form when meat is overcooked at a high temperature. The longer it is cooked, the higher the concentration of
heterocyclic amines. This isn't breaking news, as many researchers and the public have been made aware of, and warned
against, cooking meat to a charcoal.
What is new, is the discovery by Oregon State University geneticist
Stephanie Smith-Roe, that two genes, MLH1 and MSH2, turned off, may be responsible for why heterocyclic amines act as a
colon cancer-causing agent for some people and not
others. Working with mice bred without the protective genes turned on, scientists were able to demonstrate the theory
that the same genes turned off in people make them more susceptible to colon cancer from exposure to heterocyclic
amines in overcooked meats. Some people are born with faulty copies of these genes, but most often, they become damaged
somewhere during life.
According to Smith-Roe, the good news is in a test that can identify individuals with
such nonfunctioning genes. Knowing this, extra precautions could be taken to avoid exposure to cancer-causing
heterocyclic amines. There are several ways to cook meat that limit formation of these carcinogens.
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