Marinades not only make grilled foods taste better, they may also make them safer. That’s the word from a number of studies that have been looking into the risk of grilling meats on the BBQ.
The latest study suggests that adding beneficial antioxidants such as rosemary extracts or Thai spices to the meat can significantly reduce the risk of ingesting heterocyclic amines (HCAs).
Last year, scientists at the University of Porto in Portugal examined the effects of beer and red wine marinades on grilled steak and discovered that simply marinating in beer or red wine for six hours reduced the levels of …read more

Summer time is BBQ time for most of us. But in the past few years, there has been a lot of concern about the health issues relating to barbequing meats.
In particular,  health concerns revolve around the potential exposure carcinogenic compounds such as Hetrocyclic amines (HCAs) that increase as meat is charred on the grill and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAAs) that are created when fat and meat juices drip onto the coals and stones.
Back in 2005,  HCAs, which has been shown to cause tumors in animals and possibly increase the risk of breast, colon, stomach, pancreatic, and prostate cancer in humans, …read more

Looking at the cover of Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20’s and 30’s,  I made an assumption that it was just another straight forward how-to guide on dealing with cancer. But was I ever wrong.
Everything Changes is not just a how-to guide (although there is heaps of resources and information that anyone dealing with governmental and medical red tape will find tremendously useful). It is,  instead, a highly personal journey through the maze of having cancer and receiving treatment in a society that seems to think that cancer is reserved only for the old.
Seems that the …read more

It’s estimated that around 40 to 50% of all fair-skinned people who live to be 65 or older will develop at least one skin cancer lesion in their lifetime.
Pretty scary statistics for all us fair-skinned people.
But if these skin cancers are spotted early, it can be treated.
Here’s the facts. Skin cancer – melanomas, basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas – usually start out as precancerous lesions, which,  if detected early,  can be treated.
So it’s really important that we are all able to spot the early warning signs.
WebMD’s put together a slideshow that is a pretty good primer to recognizing …read more

Today is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, an annual event that has been held for the last three decades. with the aim of encouraging smokers to quit by providing information, support, and resources.
An ex-smoker myself, I know how very, very difficult it is to give it up. But I also know the up side of giving up the smokes and I’d encourage anyone who has been thinking about giving up cigarrettes to stop thinking and act.  You’ll thank yourself in the end.
Healthbolt already has a fairly active support system going on at the comment section of a post – …read more

Start spreading the news…
Breast Cancer Awareness month is coming up soon (beginning October 1) and to celebrate, our fabulous sister blog, Pink Ribbon Review, is giving away a prize a day! There are some amazing things donated by some amazing companies, who will also support the cause with a percentage of sales donated to Breast Cancer Awareness. Outstanding.
Be sure to subscribe to Pink Ribbon Review so you don’t miss a single day of give-aways.
Tell your friends. Spread the word, spread the awareness.
For a current list of items to be given away, check here.

Palm reading as a diagnostic tool for cancer?
Sounds a little far fetched but doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London recently diagnosed a case of ovarian cancer in a 74-year-old woman after she presented with thickened skin on her palms. According to the medical team, this thickening, known as palmar fascitis, could be linked to cancer and further tests revealed an ovarian mass that, happily, was successfully treated with chemotherapy.
Turns out the patient was suffering from a phenomenon called paraneoplastic syndrome. This is where the symptoms displayed, such as palmar fascitis, arthritis, or even nerve problems, seem unrelated to …read more

Are you watching the Stand Up 2 Cancer show tonight? It promises to be an amazing star-studded fundraiser and information session for cancer, and I’m proud to say that our very own Pink Ribbon Review will be blogging LIVE during the show. Awesome, hey?
Here’s the scoop:
At 8:00 EST, when the show begins, log into Pink Ribbon Review and have a real-time conversation with blogger Karen Lynch about the event — real time, live, as it happens. She’ll have live coverage and commentary about the event — and you can add your two cents, too!
Her “live” blog will be displayed …read more

Guys, this one’s for you (although I’d imagine the findings would hold true – or at least be similar – for womenfolk as well.)
Harvard scientists have found a cheap disease-fighter that you probably (hopefully) already do: Flossing your teeth!
In their research, they found that out of 50,000 guys, those with gum disease had a 30% to 50% greater risk of kidney, blood or pancreatic cancer. Why? Possibly because the inflammation caused by gum disease can egg on the growth of cancer cells.
The key, of course, is to floss daily. And brush, too. Ahem.
This has been your Healthbolt Easy Health Tip …read more

An email from Mike Street from RD.com (the Reader’s Digest site) led me to this comprehensive list of 31 Simple Ways to Prevent Cancer. Turns out that I already do a number of them – drinking green tea, taking a multivitamn, walking every day, and getting my 15 minutes of sunshine. But RD.com also listed a few that I would never had considered, such as…

Serve sauerkraut at your next picnic. A Finnish study found that the fermentation process involved in making sauerkraut produces several other cancer-fighting compounds, including ITCs, indoles, and sulforaphane. To reduce the sodium content, rinse canned or …read more