Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston say exercise helps combat breast cancer. Not the first time we've heard this fact. But these same researchers have something new to say -- about the reason physical activity lowers the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Jennifer Ligibel, MD, of Dana-Farber, reports that exercise lowers levels of the hormone insulin in the bloodstream. This is significant because there appears to be an association between relatively high levels of insulin, seen in obese and sedentary people, and an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence and breast cancer-related death.

"We know that women who are overweight at the time of breast cancer diagnosis have a higher risk of recurrence than lean women, but the reasons for this have not been clear," said Ligibel.

It's already been established that type 2 diabetes increases the risk of pancreatic cancer. And now, research indicates there is also a link between type 1 diabetes and this type of cancer.

The risk is relatively small -- but still, those with type 1 diabetes have a likelihood of developing pancreatic cancer that is twice as high as in non-diabetics. This is similar to the risk those with type 2 diabetes face.

There are many theories about the link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer, and this research -- published in the British Journal of Cancer -- helps narrow the scope of the theories.

For example, one researcher says the study rules out "a cancer-inducing role of the insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas, because in type 1 diabetes these cells have largely or entirely been destroyed."

Experts say people with diabetes should focus their attention on the most common complications of diabetes such as heart disease, eye disease, and kidney disease and not on the very small risk of cancer. In the whole scheme of things, pancreatic cancer is a rare disease -- and even twice the risk is not very significant.

The future cost of producing cancer drugs may have dropped in price with the laying of eggs from genetically-modified chickens.

Roslin Institute scientists have announced the successful creation of five generations of chickens that can lay eggs containing a specific protein needed to manufacture drugs used in the treatment of cancer. The Roslin Institute is the same research facility that cloned the Finn Dorset lamb named Dolly.

According to the BBC News report that states, "the work at Roslin shows it is now possible to use chickens as biofactories," more than one genetically-modified animal is being used as just such a factory for complex proteins needed to produce drugs.

It will be five-to-ten years before the drugs made from the protein of eggs from these genetically-modified chickens can be safely used, if clinical trials show favorable outcomes.

Twenty years from now, no one will die of cancer and heart disease, according to an expert in Perth, who believes advances in genetic technology will one day leave death by cancer in the dust.

Professor John Shine, director of the Garvan Institute for Medical Research in Sydney, says people will still get cancer -- they just won't die from it. He shared last week at a genetics conference in Perth, "I think there's no doubt death from cancer will be confined to the annals of history, And I think a very similar thing will apply to heart disease."

Despite reservations from some about genetic technology, Shine believes the desire to combat cancer -- once and for all -- will prevail over political opinion. And so that leaves only technical obstacles in the way. It's just a matter of time before these scientific hurdles are no longer issues.

Shine, known as the father of cloning, pioneered gene research in the 1970s when he identified the genes for insulin and the human growth hormone.

Drinking eight ounces of mandarin orange juice a day might have the ability to decrease the risk of developing liver cancer, according to researchers in Japan.

Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine researchers conducted a small one-year study involving participants with chronic viral hepatitis and found that none of those who drank mandarin orange juice developed liver cancer. In the group that did not drink mandarin orange juice, a small number of participants did go on to develop liver cancer. In the same study, researchers indicated that drinking mandarin orange juice might also have a positive health protective effect for atherosclerosis and insulin resistance.

Interestingly, Japanese researchers followed this inquiry after noticing that residents of a Japanese town noted for its high consumption of mandarin oranges suffered lower rates of liver disease, atherosclerosis and diabetes.

These findings, along with several others showing the health benefits of functional foods, will be presented during a four-day conference Functional Foods and Health, at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), the world's most comprehensive cancer study being conducted in establishing the link between diet and cancer risk has been going on for over a decade and few people hear about it. Over 80 scientific papers based on the study have been published in journals such as the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the Lancet, the Journal of Nutrition.

The study -- called the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) -- is an enormous undertaking involving 521,483 individuals in 10 different European countries. EPIC is unique because the populations being tracked are so diverse in eating habits. But this is precisely what gives the study the advantage it has in making comparisons and noting trends.

According to EPIC, a few of the emerging results found in the link between diet and cancer are:

• Consumption of meat sharply increased risk of stomach cancer and esophageal cancer. For every 100 grams of meat consumed by subjects, risk for stomach cancer more than tripled. The association between meat intake and stomach cancer was considerably stronger among subjects with populations of H. pylori bacteria in their stomachs.
• Two indicators of abdominal obesity, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, were strongly associated with colon cancer risk in both sexes. Men with the largest waist circumference had 39 percent higher risk of colon cancer than men with the smallest, for example, while women in the study with the largest waist circumference has a 48 percent higher risk than women with the smallest waists.
• Blood samples of women with breast cancer were compared to blood samples of women without breast cancer. Women over 60 whose blood was given under non-fasting conditions, high levels of serum C-peptide, that could reflect insulin resistance -- long suspected of contributing to cancer risk -- was associated with a doubling of breast cancer risk.
• The risk for oral and pharyngeal cancers drop by 9 percent for every 80 grams of fruits and vegetables consumed per day.
  

Researchers are beginning to come to some conclusions involving the data they have to date that clearly shows that globally, diets that are high in fruits, vegetables, fiber and fish are associated with greater cancer prevention -- with obesity and sedentary lifestyles much larger factors in increasing cancer risk.

Welcome back from the weekend! Here is a review of what we were talking about during the second week in July in our other health blogs.

From The Cardio Blog:

• Bucindolol: experimental heart failure drug.
• Mammograms can find heart health problems.
• Eggs: bad or not bad for heart health -- which is it?
• The clock of life and time of day determines heart health.
• Extreme obesity raises mortality rate in women.
• Austrailian stem cell research innovates new heart treatment.
• Public physical activity program helps weight loss, lower blood pressure.
• Tuna imported from Latin America has highest mercury level.
• Eating less helps slow aging process.
• Teens helped to learn healthy diet habits with household food rules.
• Volunteer work helps seniors stay active and healthy.
• Working overtime worse for womens health.
• Aging and single living combined linked to higher heart disease risk.
• Tubby kids motivated to exercise by reward of TV time.
• Humidity and high temps linked to rise in summer heart attacks.
• Comedian Red Button dies of vascular disease.
• Migraine aura linked to increased heart attack stroke risk.
  

From The Diabetes Blog:

• Martial arts black belt uses youth group to fight diabetes.
• FDA approves GlaxoSmithKline diabetes drug.
• Pink Floyd Syd Barrett dies from diabetes complications.
• Update on fatal NC car crash involving diabetic driver.
• Major study links Type 2 diabetes and glaucoma risk.
• Life insurance industry plays catch-up.
• A1c Champions program trains diabetes mentors.
• Danish study confirms suspected diabetes, multiple sclerosis link.
• Debate continues on virtues, shortcomings of inhalable insulin, Exubera.
• Blogger's advice to T2 diabetics: follow in footsteps of movie producer Weinstein.
• Diabetes, obesity blamed for sky-high US kidney failure rates.
• Canadians await approval of inhalable insulin.
• Lifestyle ed could greatly reduce diabetes onset in older Americans, say researchers.

To your good health! To a great week!

In my every day average life, it is not in a language I speak. In my opinion, the news release is all very technical and scientifically worded -- basically a snoozefest for the pedestrian reader -- but it's interesting because of the common links found in the function of insulin, hormones, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research UCL Branch and the UCL Centre for Diabetes & Endocrinology researchers found the commonality by studying the function of the molecule p110 alpha, the flag-ship molecule of the eight member PI3K family, which is one of the most frequently activated pathways in cancer. According to the researchers, this study yielded information that could affect millions of people with metabolic disorders and cancer. The rest of the news release is found here.

The reason I am mentioning it at all, is the research reminds me of information I found four years ago when I read The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet by Dr. Bob Arnot. Dr. Arnot, NBC News chief medical correspondent, began researching breast cancer prevention after his mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. His book was the first I came across that suggested insulin level was something to pay attention to for women interested in breast cancer prevention, and he outlined the reasons why a low glycemic diet was important for cancer prevention. Dr. Arnot's book includes a great deal of information about nutrition and diet, and I would recommend it to any woman newly-diagnosed with breast cancer and women interested in reducing their breast cancer risks.

As a cancer survivor, I am interested in any information that might aid in my survival. Even if you have not been diagnosed with cancer, or diabetes, or one of the many metabolic diseases that people suffer, it is common sense that maintaining steady insulin levels is important to long-term good health. Without ever knowing or understanding a thing about the molecule p110 alpha, we can benefit by learning about how foods affect our health in helping prevent the onset of many diseases. Sometimes I get the feeling disease, any disease, is the result of a complex falling domino-effect of causes. I am not sure how many dominos we can prevent from collapsing into each other, but I am fairly certain we can make a difference in how fast some of them fall.