Of 1,500 foods tested in a University of Oslo study, blackberries were identified as nature's top cancer fighter.

Blackberries apparently have the highest antioxidant content per serving of any food tested. And a compound found in fresh blackberries appears to stop the development of skin tumors and lung cancer cells.

Think about this:

This sweet and juicy fruit, available year-round but plentiful and perfectly potent in April and May, was promoted in a television commercial that aired during the recent Michigan-Ohio State football game.

Ohio State University is a recipient of federal grants to study the health effects of blackberries, and the student who appeared in the TV ad plugged the school's research into the cancer fighting effects of blackberries. Now that's some good press.

Lance Armstrong has a commercial airing in which he stares into the camera and says, "Remember me cancer? You made me who I am today." Jane Younce, who writes a community column for The Noblesville Ledger, has shared some of the lessons she has learned as an ovarian cancer survivor.

As she reflects on the last year, and looks forward to the new one, Younce writes:

• I've learned in the last year that bald is beautiful and people love you with or without hair.
• I've learned that my illness brought out so many friends I didn't even know I had.
• I've learned that there are no "do-overs" in life, so you should make the most of every day.
• I've learned that my best friends don't have to say a word about my illness; they just have to be there and hold your hand through the tough times.
• I've learned that real love, not the stuff you see in movies or on soap operas, is my husband telling me I look beautiful while I am bald and vomiting.
• I've learned how to make a hospital gown glamorous.
• But the most important thing I learned in 2006, is that prayer changes everything!
• Remember me, cancer? My friends kicked your butt with prayer.
  

Losing all my hair from chemotherapy treatment did give me a new perspective to all the times I groused about having a bad hair day, and I gained the wisdom to realize beauty was never physical. I knew I was loved, but never as much or so much, as after my cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, I never learned how to make a hospital gown look anything but unflattering. Prayer can indeed carry us through the darkest moments in life.

Cancer does change us, in ways we could not have anticipated or predicted ahead of time. Some times it reminds us what is important, other times it helps up to clarify the need to follow dreams we put aside for a better more opportune time. We realize there is no better time than now. If you are a cancer survivor, what would you add to the list of Remember me cancer? You made me who I am today.

Who and what was the most googled in 2006? The Year-End Google Zeitgeist top ten lists for general and news searches on the Internet this year include Paris Hilton and Bebo -- and cancer.

Of the celebrities most searched for, Paris Hilton outranked Orlando Bloom and the social networking site Bebo outranked MySpace. In the news category, cancer ranked as the third most searched for topic, before podcasting, autism, Hurricane Katrina, and bankruptcy.

The top ten Google searches were, in this order: Bebo, MySpace, World Cup, Metacafe, Radioblog, Wikipedia, Video, Rebelde, Mininova and Wiki. The top ten Google news searches were, in this order: Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, cancer, podcasting, Hurricane Katrina, bankruptcy, Martina Hingis, autism, the 2006 NFL Draft and Celebrity Big Brother.

Surprised to see Paris Hilton topping the list of news searches? Sadly, me neither. Personally, I am not certain that she has ever done anything newsworthy, other than having proven a supreme talent for the uniquely cunning ability to stay in the headlines for no particularly meaningful reason.

It is substantially interesting that cancer was the third most searched for news topic this year. I know that those whose lives have been touched by cancer can feel very alone, and if this proves anything, we are certainly not alone in trying to sort through the many issues linked to cancer.

It might be celebrity gossip but news is flying around the internet that Nike has offered Jennifer Aniston a record deal for her celebrity endorsement in exchange for donations that will benefit cancer research. It is being reported Aniston will be appearing in both television commercials and print ads for Nike.

According to the buzz, it might be the most Nike has ever offered for a celebrity endorsement. For Jennifer Aniston? Is she that popular? I am not being snarky. Really I am not. I just didn't know she was popular on the level that Nike would offer her the most money they have offered anyone for a celebrity endorsement.

Not long ago, Sheryl Crow publicly thanked her family and friends Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox for keeping her spirits up during the first days after breast cancer diagnosis. Maybe there is something to the Nike deal. If the amount of money being reported is true, and it is earmarked for cancer charity -- then it's worthy of a mention at The Cancer Blog. We appreciate any sizable donation to cancer research.

Close to 6,000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists were contacted by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and asked to answer a 38-question survey in an effort to determine the scientific integrity of the agency. Of the scientists contacted, 997 participated in the survey. Following are some key findings of the survey released by UCS:

While the effectiveness of a seaweed extract acting as a potent inhibitor of human papilloma viruses, HPV, that can lead in some cases to cervical cancer, has not been tested in any human clinical trials -- in the lab it has impressed the National Cancer Institute researchers who have been studying it.

According to researchers, carrageenan extracted from marine red algae (seaweed) showed a thousand-fold greater potency compared with other inhibitors they have tested in halting HPV.

Dr. John Schiller, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, who was involved in the development of the HPV vaccine, made the carrageenan discovery.

Schiller cautions that the results do not prove that carrageenan will work as a practical HPV topical microbicide. However, the positive results in the lab, together with the fact that carrageenan-based over-the-counter products are already available -- make carrageenan look even more promising to researchers in blocking the sexual transmission of HPV.

The new cervical cancer vaccine is effective for about 70 percent of the HPV viruses that can cause cervical cancer. It is also an expensive vaccine that might prove cost prohibitive for low-income women in economically distressed countries. The researchers think, if carrageenan proves as effective in human clinical trails as it has in the lab, the inexpensive carrageenan could be a significant benefit in the prevention of HPV.

One researcher, Dr. Connie Trimble, an HPV researcher at Johns Hopkins University, feels so positive about the recent advancements and discoveries in relation to cervical cancer that she said, "With all the potential tools now, we could really start to think about the end of cervical cancer. Between the vaccines and some of the prophylactics -- wouldn't that be a medical success story!"

For many people, pets are a beloved member of the family. If you are cancer prevention health-conscious in the foods you eat, you want the best in nutrition for your pet as much as you do for the rest of the family. I prepare meals for Murphy, our Rat Terrier, the same as I would for a family meal. He does not eat exactly what we eat, as salt and spices for Murphy are not a good thing, but he does get a balanced diet of fresh organic foods. I am not an eccentric purist in my care for Murphy -- no -- I came to my common sense pet food preparation choice as a result of discovering that the pretty bags of dry dog food that line the shelves of the local grocery were not nearly as healthy as all the vegetable and real meat claims printed on the side of the bag. Warning: the following descriptive preparation of commercial pet food is gross.