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 two types of HA by up to 90 per cent compared with unmarinated steak.

Mix all or some of these ingredients together and you’ll end up with healthy and hopefully tasty marinade recipe.

Other key ingredients for healthy, HAA reducing marinades include vinegar, citrus juices, herbs, spices and olive oil.

As for some recipes and marinade ideas, check out Marinade.com for the most comprehensive list around.

And remember, never marinate meat at room temperature. Mix, add, and then refrigerate until needed.

Happy Healthy and Safe Grilling!

(image source)

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, was added to The National Institute of Health’s hit list of cancer causing agents.

But that doesn’t mean you should stop BBQing.

It just means you need to grill safer.

Here’s how:

1. Marinade, marinade, marinade. Apparently marinading will not only make meats taste so much better. It also significantly reduces the amount of HCAs. But make it thin not thick as thicker marinades can increase the potential for charring.

2. Grill more vegetables than meats. Get creative. Put vegetables on skewers, make some veggie or tofu burgers. And don’t forget the quesadillas and tortillas.

3. Ensure proper cleaning of the grill before and after each use. Make sure that any burnt bits are scraped off the grill. Any residue left on the grill most likely will contain high levels of HCAs.

4. Frequently flip the burgers and cook at a lower temperature. Frequent turning not only accelerates the cooking process but also helps reduces the level of HCAs and can also help kill any bacteria.

5. If you’re cooking with coal, make sure you don’t place any meat directly over the coals. Best to cover the grill with aluminum foil. But don’t forget to pokes some holes in it first. Covering the grill also reduces harmful smoke that can result from meat juices spilling on the coal.

6. Reduce the grill time by pre-cooking or microwaving the meat before putting on the grill.

7. Never ever eat blackened or burnt meat.

Stop by tomorrow to discover some interesting and healthy marinades to try.

(image source)

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 mostly common phrase that Kairol and others interviewed in Everything Changes heard after being diagnosed with cancer was “But you’re too young for this!”

In reality, there is no such thing as “too young” for cancer. Nearly  70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer every year. But thanks to the misconception among people, including physicians, that younger people don‘t get cancer, they are unfortunately often diagnosed later and at more advanced stages of cancer.

Kairol accounts her own slow steps to thyroid cancer diagnosis in a matter of fact and almost humorous way from the initial discovery of a lump…

“I had long thought that chiropractors were quacks: if they gave you one wrong crack, you ended up a spoon-fed paraplegic for life. But after wrenching my neck in dance rehearsal, I was in pain, and a friend who was a receptionist at a chiropractor’s office slipped me into the doctor’s schedule. After five seconds on the table, the chiropractor pulled me to my feet and hauled me in front of her mirror. She pointed to a lump on my neck, demanding , “How long has this been here?” The lump was huge, and I was stunned that I never noticed it before.”

From here, you would think, a direct path to diagnosis would ensure.

But Kairol was young, single, and while employed, was on a minuscule income with shoddy health insurance that limited her to  “…a series of ten-minute urgent-care appointments with four different doctors who declared that I had a cold, allergies, or swollen glands…” .

It wasn’t until six months later, when her employer improved their health insurance coverage and switched HMO’s that  allowed Kairol to choose from a pool of doctors, that she received a diagnosis of stage II thyroid cancer that had metastasized to nineteen lymph nodes.

I’d like to think this wasn’t the norm, but once you start reading the stories of the other cancer patients that Kairol interviewed for Everything Changes, it’s glaringly obvious that this, unfortunately, is the norm. Young cancer patients are mostly diagnosed at later stages of cancers due to lack of health insurance and because doctor’s are often quick dismiss their symptoms.

Having battled her own cancer treatment, Kairol took to the road and interviewed other twenty and thirtysomething cancer survivors, providing them with a sounding board and a forum in which to vent their frustrations, their joys, their pain, and often revealing more about their cancer experience than they had ever done before.

The result - an amazing collection of compelling, gut wrenching, honest, and even funny, stories that, individually, connect you emotionally to each person, and,  collectively, make you wonder where they all get their strength from.

Each chapter features not only one person’s story in their own word (from the initial diagnosis to employment and family challenges, to the never ending health insurance red tape) but also focuses on a particular topic - money, God, dating, self advocacy, sex, fertility, and end-of-life issues - subjects that someone young and sick  probably doesn’t want to talk about but often thinks about. Kairol intersperses her own thoughts and experience throughout each chapter, a blending that allows the book to have a natural and easy to read flow.

And at the end of each chapter, there are resource notes. From health insurance and financial guidance to clinical trials, dating, employment issues to working the system and alternative medicine, this part of each chapter is full of  information, tips, and addresses and contacts to help people navigate through living and dealing with cancer.

There’s nothing candy coated about Everything Changes. It’s gritty, blunt, frank, and impossible to put down once you start reading it. It might make you cry but it will also make you laugh - often at the same time.

A must read for anyone dealing with cancer or who knows someone with cancer, or for that matter, anyone dealing with chronic illness, not matter what their age.

Visit the Everything Changes website for more information and have a read of Chapter One of the book.

Image: everythingchangesbook.com

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.

image:flickr

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 suspect lesions and moles that should be checked out by the doctor.

Ranging from Actinic Keratosis (Solar Keratosis), small, scaly patches caused by too much sun exposure commonly occur on the head, neck, or hands to Atypical moles, this slideshow really is great.  Not only does it give you a visual guide to suspect moles but it also explains in detail what to look for and why using these ABCDE guidelines:

A is for Asymmetry - normal moles are symmetric. Those that are not should be considered suspect until proven otherwise.

B is for Border -  moles with edges that are ragged, blurred, or irregular need to be checked out.

C is for Color - moles with more than one color also need to be checked out.

D is for Diameter - any mole larger that the size of an eraser at the end of pencil is suspect.

E is for Elevation - raised or elevated moles also need to be checked out.

……

Tomorrow’s post: Common Skin Cancer Myths

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 - What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now? - that was written by the Wade Meredith, the original Healthbolter. 

Here’s the highlights of that post…

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
• In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
• In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
• In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
• In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
• In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
• In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
• In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
• In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
• In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

Click here for a high-quality Graphic representation of this chart.

Does it help you make the decision to stop any easier ?

I sure hope so.  

If it does, head over to the Great American Smokeout for support and advice and have a look at.  And check out these 5 Smoking Gadgets That Might Help You Quit Smoking.

Good Luck…

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 cancer but are a direct result of chemicals secreted by the cancerous tumour.

Rare but true…

(source)

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 in a viewer window on the main Pink Ribbon Review website (thanks to software provided by CoveritLive). It’s like instant messaging — except you don’t need a user name or password — and you can watch the conversation, view photos, send in comments, or participate in polls. There’s no downloading … just have her website loaded at 8:00 EST and watch the magic unfold…

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 of the Day. Go forth with fresh breath and shiny teeth, m’friends.

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 jarred sauerkraut before eating.
• Coat barbecue food with a thick sauce. Grilling meat can create a variety of cancer-causing chemicals. But researchers from the American Institute for Cancer Research found that coating the meat with a thick marinade and thereby preventing direct contact with the charring flames reduced the amount of such chemicals created.
• Every time you go to the bathroom, stop by the kitchen or water cooler for a glass of water. A major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1996 found that men who drank six 8-ounce glasses of water every day slashed their risk of bladder cancer in half. Another study linked the amount of water women drank to their risk of colon cancer, with heavy water drinkers reducing their risk up to 45 percent.
• Have a beer tonight. Beer protects against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, known to cause ulcers and possibly linked to stomach cancer. But don’t overdo it. Drinking more than one or two alcoholic drinks a day may increase your risk of mouth, throat, esophageal, liver, and breast cancer.

Okay, so I might skip on the sauerkraut and also the BBQ (hey, it’s winter in New Zealand) but I could, I guess, work on having a beer tonight.

Meanwhile,  I’d recommend that you head over to RD.com and have a read of the complete list. It might surprise you, or not.

And do let us know what you think are the four top ’simple ways to help prevent/reduce the risk of cancer.’