If you're in the mood for upping your antioxidant levels -- antioxidants can cancel out the cell-damaging effects of free radicals, thus lowering the risk of cancer -- here's one quick and easy tip for you: keep your watermelons warm.

Research shows that watermelons stored at room temperatures have much higher levels of antioxidants (beta-carotene and lycopene) than those kept chilled in the fridge. Warm watermelons are even better than fresh-picked melons.

One caution: once cut, watermelons must refrigerated. So try to enjoy your watermelons as soon as you slice and dice them. Then keep your leftovers cool.

Source: Good Housekeeping, July 2007

First, it seemed eating lycopene-rich tomatoes offered protection against prostate cancer. Now it seems this is not so true. In fact, researchers have found an association between an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer and beta carotene, an antioxidant related to lycopene.

Lycopene seemed for a short time to be a quick and easy fix for men trying to lower their prostate cancer risk. Yet studies are failing to show any significant differences in blood lycopene levels between men who develop the disease and those who do not.

The largest study to yield these results investigated the role of blood levels of lycopene and other antioxidants in the prevention of prostate cancer. It was an unexpected turn of events that led researchers to the link between the most aggressive cancers and antioxidants found in many vegetables. While the observation may be due to chance, beta carotene is known to increase risk of lung cancer and heart disease in smokers and may be worth a bit more study.

I'm still on a quest for guidance on the whole fish topic. The same few questions keep cycling through my head. How often should I eat fish? What kind of fish should I eat? What are the real health dangers surrounding fish consumption? I keep searching for answers. And now and then, I catch some good advice about the topic.

If you find yourself floundering at times, like me, here are seven tips you might find helpful.

• The National Academy of Sciences, the American Heart Association, and the World Health Organization all encourage regular fish consumption. Sure, there are legitimate concerns about environmental issues, but experts still say the benefits of eating a variety of fish far outweigh the risks. Eating fish protects the heart and reduces the risk for Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, strokes, depression, bipolar disorder, and our favorite topic here at this site: cancer.

The most healthy thing that I have added to my daily menu to fight cancer right now is this simple drink that helps give me energy and gives me antioxidants and vitamins. It helps boost the immune system. It detoxifies and cleanses the body. It gives a quota of daily veggies. It has a high alkalinity that helps balance acid PH levels in the body. It is simple and it tastes good too.

Vicki's Twice Daily Wheat Grass Cocktail
4 ounces of organic tangerine juice
4 ounces of organic carrot juice
1 organic banana
1 8 grams packet of Organic Wheat Grass (I prefer Amazing Grass brand)

Mix together well in a blender until smooth and pour into a large glass.

You can find Wheat Grass in your local health food store.

A new study shows men are three times more likely to develop certain types of skin cancer than women. But it doesn't have as much to do with sun exposure as we might think.

According to researchers at Ohio State University, gender differences put men at greater risk for non-melanoma skin cancers than their female counterparts.

Researchers tested the effects of UVB rays on mice and found male mice developed tumors earlier. The tumors were also larger and more aggressive than those found in female mice.

The study, published in the April 1 issue of Cancer Research, indicates it could be the higher levels of antioxidants females have in their skin that allow them to fight off tumors better.

A lab in Oklahoma is studying genes for combinations that predict breast cancer risk. A look into the 100 genes gathered from each woman -- via mouthwash -- allows researchers to categorize women with standard, moderate, or high risks of developing the disease.

The study begins with a lengthy questionnaire about medical history and leads to the collection of a DNA sample. Women simply rinse their mouths with a standard mouthwash and wait for results.

Geneticist Dr. Kara Casas says she hopes that regardless of results, women will choose a healthy lifestyle with a diet low in fat and alcohol consumption and with lots of exercise too. But those in the moderate and high-risk groupings will be advised to make other lifestyle changes to help decrease their chances of getting breast cancer. They may be asked to regulate estrogen levels, for example, and to report regularly for mammograms at an earlier age.

Casas says all women have some risk of developing breast cancer. But knowing what these risks are can help them better protect themselves -- which makes tests like this so important.

A total of 12,000 samples will collected for an FDA trial. For more information about this study in mouthwash, call 903-510-1173.

Secondhand smoke rears its ugly head once again -- this time in the form of study results revealing high levels of secondhand smoke in the workplace can double the risk of lung cancer for non-smokers.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago looked at results from 22 studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, and China. What they found -- and published in the American Journal of Public Health -- is a lung cancer risk 50 percent higher than normal for non-smokers exposed to smoke on the job for more than 30 years. They also found risk increases with level of exposure.

"We believe that our study provides the strongest evidence to date that smoking in the workplace does present a substantial risk to workers -- and particularly to workers who are working in highly exposed areas such as bar workers or restaurant workers," lead researcher Leslie Stayner said.

Previous evidence for increased lung cancer risk caused by secondhand smoke comes from studies of non-smokers married to smokers.

Secondhand smoke -- also known as passive smoke and environmental tobacco smoke -- is smoke from a cigarette, pipe, or cigar as well as smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers and inhaled by non-smokers. It can cause cancer, respiratory problems, and asthma in non-smokers and is leading to increased efforts by communities to ban or limit smoking in the workplace.

This week in France, bans begin in offices, stores, schools, and hospitals. Come January 2008, cafes and restaurants must also comply with bans. For now, smoking in these areas is permitted in hermetically sealed rooms without any services.

Nearly a decade ago, women in Long Island began to worry about their high rates of breast cancer. So they advocated and lobbied and pushed until a public law was passed that allowed for the creation of the Long Island Breast Cancer Project. Funded by both the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, great data has emerged from this project -- like the data linking breast cancer and household pesticides.

Although much research has linked cancer with pesticides in work and industrial settings, few studies have investigated what these chemicals can do in households -- until now, thanks to research conducted as part of The Long Island Breast Cancer Project.

Published online in the December 13 American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found an association between lifetime residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk in a sample of 1,508 Long Island women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1996 and 1997. These women were compared to 1,556 random controls. All women were asked to self-report their pesticide exposure and to offer blood samples for the study of organochlorine compound levels -- found in lawn and garden products.

As expected, researchers found an increased breast cancer risk for women whose blood samples showed the highest levels of organochlorine compounds. They also found it hard to find women who did not use lawn and garden pesticides to some degree.

Use of household pesticides has infiltrated our society, says researcher Susan Teitelbaum, assistant professor in the department of community medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who reports she is happy to see a movement toward use of alternative methods, like integrated pest management.

Teitelbaum has just one recommendation as result of this study. It's quite simple really -- stop using pesticides.

If clinical trials go well, a new drug simulating the effects of normal sunlight and increasing the life expectancy of prostate cancer patients, could be available in 2009.

The drug, Asentar, provided levels of vitamin D between 50 and 100 times higher than levels delivered by the sun and could double life expectancy from nine to 18 months for those taking the pills. Absent would be any of the consequences associated with such an overdose.

"An extension of nine months would be very significant in my view," said Nick James of the University of Birmingham. "If the results of the phase III trial are as good as those of the phase II trial, that would be significant."

Details about this study can be found in the journal Chemistry & Industry.

The standard dose of some medications are too high and dangerous for the patients, where some patients respond the exact opposite and show that the standard dose is too low to produce beneficial effects. It would seem to be a simple case of age, gender, or genetic differences to explain the individual variability in response to the drugs.

A study at the University of Kansas is reporting that variations in the body's production of hydrogen peroxide, which is believed to serve as a signaling molecule at low levels, can affect the accumulation of drugs inside our cells.

Oxidative stress, an increase in hydrogen peroxide levels, may have an increased response to a given dosage of a drug. This seems to show that it is in our best interest for physicians to provide more individualized dosing of drugs.

Hydrogen peroxide effects could be especially important in therapeutic drugs such as aminophylline, carbamazepine, lithium, carbonate, phenytoin, theophylline and warfarin. The researchers think that small changes in the doses of these drugs could cause either subtherapeutic or toxic results.

Maryland's air has cancer-causing toxins, and they are far higher than the federal government considers safe, according to Environment Maryland -- an environmental group lobbying to make Maryland the 11th state to follow stricter auto emissions standards.

The group, a spin-off of the Maryland Public Interest Group, has released a report revealing the risk of cancer from air toxins was at least 10 times higher than federal standards in each of the state's counties and Baltimore City.

While California is currently setting the bar for higher auto emissions standards, there is no data at this time to compare Maryland's levels with the rest of the country.

Cancer of the unknown primary is when cancer is found somewhere in the body but the pathologist is unable to tell where the cells originated from. The cancer cells are so poorly differentiated that they do not resemble any cells of the body. It can be very difficult to find the right treatment because doctors usually use the type of cancer as the main starting point to choose chemotherapy or treatments that are known to be effective. Other problems arise with this type of diagnoses. Many physicians do not have much to go on to treat this disease or know if the patient is likely to survive.

French researchers have developed a prognostic model for cancer of the unknown primary. The findings were published in the December 1st issue of Cancer. Low serum albumin levels and elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the blood of patients had the worse prognosis overall. This prognostic model can show who has the most powerful adverse prognostic factors.

Even with this information though, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with treatment. They can tell who has a better or worse prognosis but what then?

Previous posts on the topic:

Cancer of the unknown primary

A popular baldness drug manufactured by Merck & Co Inc called Finasteride, better know as Propecia, can mask an important marker used to detect prostate cancer. High levels of the PSA in the blood can signal prostate cancer or other problems such as an enlarged prostate.

Propecia has been shown in a study to artificially lower the prostate specific antigen (PSA). Dr. Anthony D'Amico, the lead author of the study from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, recommends middle-aged men taking Propecia to have their PSA levels multiplied by two to account for the difference. He says, "The main finding is that this drug called Propecia, which men use for hair loss typically between the ages of 30-60, affects the PSA levels".

Merck said in a statement that information has been included for customers on the label since the product was first introduced in 1997. It advises patients who undergo serum PSA tests to tell their doctor if they are taking Propecia.

It may be on the label but I hope our doctors are aware of this. Are they asking the patients if they are using Propecia? I'm sure there are plenty of men who have not read the fine print and don't mention this information to their physicians.

I really like the book I've recently been writing about -- The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person. And I plan to read more. And I plan to write more. But I'm at a standstill.

I haven't been reading lately. And I haven't been writing lately. Because life is getting in the way. And in my book, that's a good thing.

There was a time when it would have caused me great stress to have committed myself to something -- like reading a book and writing about it -- and to have somehow fallen short on completing the task. Stress would have caused me to make time for my commitment, to push other important tasks aside, to fulfill my self-imposed deadlines.

But ever since cancer arrived in my life and jolted me into the realization that I only have the pleasure of one day at a time, I am better at capitalizing on what's most important in my world -- my family.

I have been busy playing beauty shop with my son. The boy who once shaved my head prior to my chemotherapy fallout is now twisting my dark brown curls into one-of-a-kind styles. I have been hanging Christmas lights with my sister who really has done all the work for me. I have been watching my two boys play in the yard and skateboard down the driveway and create concoctions of dirt, water, and weeds on the front porch. I have been shopping for holiday gifts and finding all sorts of great buys for myself too. I have been playing with my niece and dining out with my husband and writing posts and sitting by a fire at night. I have not been reading.

I am perfectly content with my hiatus from reading and writing. Because enjoying my moments, on my preferred terms, is surely part of recovering from a illness that threatened to take all my moments away.

I'm not sure when I'll get back to Dr. Jeremy Geffen's book, when I will continue reading about his Seven Levels of Healing. Because at the moment, I am too busy healing myself.

To read previous posts on the same topic, visit:
The Journey Through Cancer: State-Of-The-Art-Medical Care
The Journey Through Cancer: Beverly Is Every One of Us
The Journey Through Cancer: What Is The Purpose Of Medicine
The Journey Through Cancer: Introduction
Sunday Seven: Seven Levels of Healing on Cancer Journey

Stay tuned for an eventual post about:
The Journey Through Cancer: Level One -- Education and Information

Every cancer patient should receive state-of-the-art medical care, says Dr. Jeremy Geffen in his book The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person. This medical care -- the foundation of every cancer treatment program -- should be administered by highly trained and qualified caregivers, under the meticulous supervision of an experienced oncologist.

Some don't believe this is the necessary foundation and consider the triad of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation both poisonous and barbaric. There is no doubt that people encounter pain, frustration, and toxicity with these therapies, according to Dr. Geffen. But he believes it's almost always a serious mistake to forgo these remedies in exchange for unproven alternative therapies.

There are demonstrated benefits of conventional medicine. And it is clear that with each day, treatments become safer, less toxic, and more effective than ever before. Some cancers -- like Hodgkin's disease, testicular cancer, and childhood leukemia -- were once considered deadly. Now, they can be cured. The anatomy and function of the eye, breast, larynx, esophagus, anus, rectum, and prostate can now be preserved, despite surgery and treatment. Advances in pain control have delivered considerable relief to patients experiencing discomfort with treatment. And there is reason to believe future progress against cancer will be even more dramatic -- with the advent of molecular and genetic technology, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, better diagnostic technologies, and more effective control of side effects.

Dr. Geffen stresses this -- conventional medicine is a must in the fight against cancer. But alternative and complementary therapies also have a place. And throughout his book, he details the Seven Levels of Healing that encompass both approaches.

He begins with Level One -- Education and Information. The starting place. The place common to all of us who receive diagnoses that are troubling and confusing and require a little investigation, a little research, a little explanation. The place I will describe in my next Journey Through Cancer post.

To read previous posts on the same topic, visit:
The Journey Through Cancer: Beverly Is Every One of Us
The Journey Through Cancer: What Is The Purpose Of Medicine
The Journey Through Cancer: Introduction
Sunday Seven: Seven Levels of Healing on Cancer Journey

Stay tuned for:
The Journey Through Cancer: Level One -- Education and Information