Advertising executive and author Lois Wyse died Friday at her Manhattan home of stomach cancer. She was 80.

Perhaps best known for her famous slogan, With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good, Wyse -- who founded Wyse Advertising with her first husband Marc and went on to win the J.M. Smucker Company account -- was also the brains behind this name: Bed, Bath & Beyond. The small retail chain began as Bed and Bath. Wyse thought it would fare better with a more complete name.

Wyse was a powerful woman in business. Her company was chosen to create the first television advertising campaign for New Woman magazine. She was was the first woman on the board of the Consolidated Natural Gas Company and the Higbee Company, and she was a founding member of both the Committee of 200, a group of women with executive jobs, and of Catalyst, a women's research organization.

Peppermint is an excellent source of manganese, vitamin C and vitamin A, carotenoids, and beta-carotene. Vitamin C, the main water-soluble antioxidant in the body is needed to decrease levels of free radicals that can cause damage to cells and decrease the risk of cancer. Peppermint is probably most famous for its use in our favorite white and red candy at Christmas time but it is gaining popularity to drink in teas to help decrease nausea.

A cup of fresh mint tea can help to soothe your stomach. If you are nauseous from cancer treatments try drinking peppermint tea. Another useful thing I found to work is to keep a small bottle of peppermint oil in your pocket and rub it on your wrist for smelling when you feel the queasy stomach coming on.

Whenever possible, choose fresh mint over the dried form of the herb since it is superior in flavor. The leaves of fresh mint should look vibrant and be a rich green color. They should be free from dark spots or yellowing. To store fresh mint leaves, carefully wrap them in a damp paper towel and place inside of a loosely closed plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator, where it should keep fresh for several days.

Recipe for a perfect cup of peppermint tea.
1 ounce fresh peppermint leaves
1 pint boiling water
Honey

Place the peppermint leaves in a cup and pour in boiling water. Cover the cup with a saucer and let it stand for 10 minutes. Scoop out the leaves with a spoon and add a little honey if you like it sweet.

Eating an orange every day can not only boost your vitamin C but it can help get rid of a strain of the H. pylori bacteria that causes peptic ulcers and can lead to stomach cancer. Researchers in San Francisco found that infected people with high levels of vitamin C in their blood were less likely to test positive for the cancer causing strain. Here is a delicious, colorful, and healthy salad to serve your family. Remember to always buy organic when available.

Vicki's Citrus/Dijon Salad Dressing
4 tbsp. Orange juice
1 1/2 tbsp. Olive oil
1 tbsp. Lime juice
1 tbsp. Honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
Whisk together to make citrus salad dressing

Vicki's Orange and Avocado Salad
1/2 of a 10 oz. bag of mixed salad greens
1/2 of a 10 oz. bag baby spinach
1 Ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 Oranges peeled, seeded, and cut into slices
1 Cup grape tomatoes
1/2 Cup shredded carrots
3 Green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
Mix ingredients and toss in a large bowl then drizzle with the citrus salad dressing.
Serves 4.

More on coffee -- a topic of panel discussion at the recent Experimental Biology 2007 meeting in Washington, DC, and subject of nearly 400 studies investigating consumption and cancer risk.

Think about this:

No one claims coffee is the new health food. And non-coffee drinkers are not encouraged to drink the beverage for their health. Yet the beverage is certainly losing some of its negative health image.

But is it enough?

Some say coffee protects against colon, rectal, and liver cancers (diabetes too). These same people recognize it also can increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer. Those at risk, like pregnant women and children, should limit their consumption.

Like many connections between cancer and diet, there just isn't enough research to tell a whole story. We can only take what's available and make our own educated decisions about our own individual lives.

What decision will you make about coffee?

Cancer drug Gleevec, used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), has been pulled out of another round of testing so it can get to work stopping the return of a rare stomach cancer. It's that good, according to findings announced on Thursday.

The promise of Gleevec should make it standard treatment for people with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), a stomach and intestine cancer diagnosed in 5,000 to 6,000 Americans each year.

The drug has already been used for patients whose disease is too advanced for surgery. Now it will be used for those whose tumors can be removed. The drug will be administered for at least one year post-surgery.

More than 600 people participated in this Gleevec trial. Each person took either Gleevec or a sugar pill for one year after surgery. After the one-year mark, cancer returned in 17 percent of people taking the sugar pill and in 3 percent of people taking the actual drug.

Since 50 to 90 percent of GIST cases recur over time, this is great news, say researchers who call Gleevec a highly targeted cancer drug with few side effects.

Patrick Wayne, son of late actor John Wayne, says Larry King has true grit. And that's why the CNN talk show host will receive the True Grit Award next month, an honor that hails from the John Wayne Cancer Institute.

King, 73, will receive his honor at the annual Odyssey Ball on April 14 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Jamie Lee Curtis will host the event that will commemorate the centennial of John Wayne's birth.

The Odyssey Ball began 22 years ago and has helped raise more the $14 million to support the John Wayne Cancer Institute's research and treatment programs.

"Larry King epitomizes the strengths and qualities that characterized my father, and for which the True Grit Award was created," said Wayne, who serves as chairman of the board at the institute, located at the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.

Founded by the Wayne family in 1981, the institute honors John Wayne who died of stomach cancer in 1979.

An article recently published in the International Journal of Cancer says that airborne exposure to some occupational carcinogens appears to increase the risk of noncardia gastric cancer among men.

Noncardia gastric cancer refers to cancer that is in the middle or lower part of the stomach. Researchers from Sweden recently conducted a clinical study to evaluate potential occupational airborne exposures that may be associated with the risk of developing noncardia gastric cancer. This study included over 256,000 men with 200 different jobs.

Conclusions:

• Workers exposed to cement dust has a 50 percent increased rate of noncardia gastric cancer
• Workers exposed to quartz dust had a 30 percent increased rate of noncardia gastric cancer
• Workers exposed to diesel exhaust has a 40 percent rate of noncardia gastric cancer
• Exposure to asbestos, asphalt fumes, concrete dust, epoxy resins, isocyanates, metal fumes, mineral fibers, organic solvents, or wood dust did not appear to increase the risk of noncardia gastric cancers.

Men exposed to these airborne carcinogens may wish to speak with their physician regarding potential screening measures for noncardia gastric cancer.

One in 18 men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer during their lifetimes -- that translates into more than 150,000 people diagnosed and more than 52,000 colorectal cancer deaths each year, securing the disease as the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Fortunately, mortality rates for this disease have been declining due to earlier screenings, awareness of symptoms, removal of polyps, and improved treatments through advances in research discoveries -- like today's genetic breakthroughs.

In a recent study, researchers identified a cell pathway critical in the development of colon cancer and also lung and stomach cancers.

STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is the newest discovery and is a target regulated by PRPRT (receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T), already identified to be mutated in these cancers.

"The role of protein tyrosine phosphatase in cancer is still an under-explored area," says Zhenghe John Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Our study shows that receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T regulates an important signaling pathway that is critical in cancer development. This identification will allow new approaches to pharmacological designs and facilitate alternative approaches for cancer treatment."

This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Online Edition Feb. 20-23, 2007), provides new hope for the development of drugs that will target this potentially deadly disease.

Discoveries have linked certain viruses to cancer growth. The hepatitis B virus is related to liver cancer. Women who develop cervical cancer have had a human papilloma virus (HPV) infection but not all women with HPV infection will develop cervical cancer. Stomach ulcers are likely caused by Helicobactor pylori, or H. pylori a bacteria and the ulcers can grow into cancer. Viruses attack cells in the body and once these cells are corrupted they begin to grow uncontrollably, eventually leading to cancer.

With these discoveries leads us to the knowledge that protecting the immune system in the body and keeping viruses at bay, is important in preventing cancer. Viruses enter the body through everyday activities like eating, breathing and sexual activity. Eating well, exercising and avoiding alcohol and cigarettes are good ways to keep your body's natural defenses functioning at their best. Staying protected with condoms during sexual intercourse helps protect you from sexually transmitted viruses and diseases. Learning healthy life style habits is the beginning of keeping cancer at bay. Focusing on nutrition, exercise, body weight, keeping toxins out of our bodies and our home environment ,and lowering stress will all help boost the immune system.

Blogger Kristina Collins wrote on February 11 about three great steps for reducing the risk of cancer. Her suggestions -- eat well, get fit, and stop smoking -- are such good tips and could certainly account for major health changes in those who heed this advice.

Each one of these recommended lifestyle alterations is a major undertaking. And if you're like me and find big, swift, sweeping changes a sure recipe for defeat, then this short to-do list may seem a bit intimidating. So I'd like to offer a bit of my own advice for accomplishing these health feats -- take baby steps.

Kristina has taken baby steps. She first quit smoking -- I'm not sure there's anything small about this success, however -- and now she's taking on membership at a gym. Cutting down on red wine comes next, she says, as she pursues a life driven by health.

I have just recently taken a baby step myself. I stopped drinking soda -- or pop as I called it before relocating from Ohio to Florida. I'd known for some time I wanted to rid myself of the sugar that comes packaged in my favorite drinks -- Dr. Pepper and root beer -- but for some reason, I was dragging my feet when it came to giving up this vice. Yet I did it. I stopped drinking soda, replaced it with water, and now have no desire for sugary drinks of any kind.

I am a creature of habit. I know this because I spent years drinking only water. But when cancer struck, I turned to the carbonation of soft drinks to settle my upset stomach. With time, my stomach stopped bothering me. But I didn't stop drinking soda. I kept drinking it for no other reason than pure habit. And when I convinced myself this practice was not necessary in my life, I cut it out.

Perhaps I'll tackle chocolate next. Or exercising more. Who knows. I'm just happy I accomplished one small task. And I hope you'll consider taking baby steps in your pursuits for better health. Just remember, we didn't hop up one day and start sprinting in infancy. It took years to fine-tune our ability to run on our own. And it may take years to carve out a healthful way of living.

We all know breast cancer strikes women -- a lot of women -- but about 1,700 men also develop the disease each year in the United States. And while their risk of diagnosis is much more hopeful than the reality facing women, men with breast cancer face their own version of a not-so-rosy reality.

According to researchers at the University of California, Irvine, men treated for breast cancer face a very real chance of getting cancer again. Their study found that 11.5 percent of men with breast cancer develop second primary cancers -- mostly in the breast, stomach, and skin -- within two months following initial treatment.

"Even more disturbing, we found that men with breast cancer are diagnosed with later-stage disease and that patients with onset of the disease at a young age are even more likely to develop a second cancer," said Hoda Anton-Culver, chief of epidemiology in the UCI School of Medicine.

In light of these findings, researchers recommend men with breast cancer be closely monitored for a second onset of cancer.

One week ago, researchers found themselves humbled by the disappointing fact that promising cancer drug Avastin had failed to help patients with pancreatic cancer live longer. In fact, not only did the drug fail to extend survival, it actually caused adverse side effects such high blood pressure and bleeding in the stomach and intestine.

In a study of 600 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, those who received Avastin in addition to standard chemotherapy lived for only six months -- the same amount of time as those who received chemotherapy alone.

Earlier studies predicted Avastin might improve survival. It worked in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. And so it was no surprise that crowds of pancreatic cancer patients wanted a shot at this potential wonder drug that in the end turned out -- for them -- to be not so wondrous.

Soap opera actress Darlene Conley, best known for playing Sally Spectra for the past 20 years on The Bold and the Beautiful, lost her battle with cancer over the weekend. She was 72.

Conley, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer just three months ago, also played characters on Days of our Lives and General Hospital -- and many knew her as black market baby broker Rose DeVille onThe Young and the Restless.

Before embarking on a daytime career, Conley made appearances in movies The Birds and Valley of the Dolls and on television shows such as Murder, She Wrote, Cagney & Lacey, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Employing modern day pathological and tumor-staging methods, University of Texas Southwestern researchers have concluded that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died from advanced gastric cancer resulting from a chronic bacteria infection, H. pylori bacteria.

While Napoleon's personal physician Francesco Antommarchi stated at the time of Napoleon's death that the ruler of France had died from stomach cancer, an alternative and popular theory that has persisted down through the centuries after his death suggested Napoleon was killed by prolonged arsenic poisoning. Apparently, not so.

By studying historical accounts, the researchers determined that the advancement of gastric cancer was such that even modern day treatments would not have prolonged Napoleon's life. Professor of pathology and internal medicine Dr. Robert Genta stated, "Even if treated today, he'd have been dead within a year."

Napoleon's father died from stomach cancer, but the researchers dismiss that heredity played a role in the development of Napoleon's gastric cancer. Dr. Genta explains, "The ulcerated lesion on the emperor's stomach suggests a history of chronic H. pylori gastritis, which might have increased his risk of gastric cancer. The risk might have been further increased by his diet full of salt-preserved foods but sparse in fruits and vegetables – common fare for long military campaigns."

To learn details of the study into Napoleon's death from gastric cancer, and the methods used by the researchers, read University of Texas Southwestern's Napoleon's mysterious death unmasked.

Stapling the stomach of an obese child is a last resort, but the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued a stamp of approval for bariatric surgery as part of a national guideline aimed at reducing obesity in children and minimizing the long-term adverse health effects that being overweight has on health.

This is the NICE organization's effort to find solutions to England's rising obesity epidemic where the number of overweight and obese people in the last quarter century has tripled.

Stomach stapling is not the only solution, but it is now an approved option. Other recommendations include the following: local authorities working with local partners, such as industry and voluntary organizations, to create safe spaces for physical activity; providing cycling and walking routes, cycle parking, area maps and safe play areas; creating pedestrian-friendly streets; designing building and spaces to encourage more physical activity; requiring schools to provide an environment that promotes healthy eating and physical exercise; healthcare professionals taking the time to educate and give advice on how to maintain a healthy weight; raising public awareness and encouraging daily physical activities such as walking, cycling, swimming, aerobics or gardening.

Obesity cannot go unchecked and it is a threat to the health and welfare of children and adults alike, as obesity is linked to greater increased risks for a number of life-threatening diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. But, it is uncomfortable to think that one of the solutions to childhood obesity is a scalpel. The NICE press release New NICE guideline calls for urgent action to stem the rising tide of obesity in England and Wales is available as a pdf document here.