It’s not surprising to anyone in the healthcare field to know that unhealthy lifestyle choices, like smoking, drinking too much, not eating well, not exercising enough, and so on, contributes to ill health. Obesity is also something that contributes to disease, and now it’s being found that it could also be contributing to some types of cancer as well.

According to a press release issued by ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation:

At least 124,000 new cancers in 2008 in Europe may have been caused by excess body weight, according to estimates from a new modelling study. The proportion of cases of new cancers attributable to a body mass index of 25kg/m2 or more were highest among women and in central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

The lead researcher pointed out that as smoking rates are dropping and hormone replacement therapy is becoming less common, “it is possible that obesity may become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade.”

The numbers found through the study may actually be lower than they truly are:

• 3.2% of new cancers in men could be attributed to excess weight
• 8.6% of new cancers in women could be attributed to excess weight

The types of cancer attributed to excess weight varied but the most common ones, altogether accounting for 65% of the new cancers, were:

• endometrial cancer
• post-menopausal breast cancer
• colorectal cancer

~~~~

Image: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Blisstree

Obesity Contributes to Some Cancers

BUT – men in their 50s who have even infrequent sexual activity actually decrease their risk of developing prostate cancer.

According to the study, which looked at 800 men:

• frequent sex in 20s and 30s: not good
• frequent sex in 40s: no health impact re prostate
• sex in 50s: good
• The important point also was not intercourse, but the frequency of masturbation.

I would be very interested in reading the study in whole, but this is the information provided by the publisher’s press release:

• 59% of the men in both groups said that they had engaged in sexual activity (intercourse or masturbation) 12 times a month or more in their twenties. This fell steadily as they got older, to 48% in their thirties, 28% in their forties and 13% in their fifties.
• 39% of the cancer group had had six female partners or more, compared with 31% of the control group.
• Men with prostate cancer were more likely to have had a sexually transmitted disease than those without prostate cancer.
• More men with prostate cancer fell into the highest frequency groups in each decade when it came to sexual activity (intercourse and masturbation) than men in the control group. 40% of men in the cancer group fell into the highest frequency category in their twenties (20 or more times a month) compared to 32% in the control group. Similar patterns were observed in the men’s thirties and forties. By the fifties it had evened out, with 31% in each group falling into the most frequent category (ten or more times a month).
• Men with prostate cancer were also more likely to masturbate frequently than men in the control group, with the greatest difference in the twenties (34% versus 24%) and thirties (41% versus 31%). The differences were less pronounced in their forties (34% versus 28%) and by the fifties the cancer group was slightly lower (25% versus 26%).

There does seem to be a connection, and it would make sense, between sexual activity and prostate cancer, just as there seems to be a connection between breastfeeding and breast cancer. But I’m just a bit astounded that someone thought to look into the masturbation aspect.

The authors have a theory of why sex in the 50s is protective against prostate cancer:

"A possible explanation for the protective effect that men in their fifties appear to receive from overall sexual activity, and particularly masturbation, is that the release of accumulated toxins during sexual activity reduces the risk of developing cancer in the prostate area. This theory has, however, not been firmly established and further research is necessary."

What do you think? And, if you like this post or want to spread the word, please click in the "Share this" link below to help let others know about it.

~~~

Tags: cancer blog, prostate cancer, frequent sex and masturbation, frequent sex, masturbation and prostate cancer

Post from: Blisstree

What? Frequent sex and masturbation in 20s and 30s ups risk of prostate cancer?

In the latest of studies, the findings show that using and talking on a cell phone doesn’t increase your chances of developing melanoma of the eye.

An earlier, smaller study of just over 100 people said there was such a connection, but this larger study of 459 subjects did not come to the same conclusion. The results of the study were published in the online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

~~~~

Tags: cancer blog, cell phones and cancer, eye cancer, melanoma of the eye

Post from: Blisstree

No link between eye cancer and cell phone use

Disaboom.com has a good article, written by Debbie Marsh, How Likely Are You to Get Cancer?, which covers several of the lifestyle and environmental contributions to cancer development.

I’m a fan of the Disaboom.com site, so I like it when I can refer people to some of their articles.

~~~

Tags: cancer blog, risks of cancer, lifestyle and cancer

Post from: Blisstree

How likely are you to get cancer?

The University of Michigan Health System has issued a release that discusses how lung cancer still plays a large role in North American society. According to their press release, lung cancer kills four times the number of Americans as does breast cancer. Not only tht, but lung cancer is the number one killer of both men and women.

Did you even know that November is Lung Cancer Awareness month? You surely new that October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that US federal funding for research favors breast cancer over lung cancer 10 to 1? And that  $11,000 in breast cancer research is funded for every one person who dies of breast cancer, but for lung cancer, it’s closer to $1,000 per person?

Research for cancer is vital – but it’s vital for all cancers, not just one that has the most vocal activists. I used to work in palliative care. Many of my patients were dying of lung cancer. More had lung cancer than had breast cancer.

Why can’t the funding be more equitable, especially when one type of cancer kills MORE than another?

~~~~

Tags: cancer blog, breast cancer, lung cancer, lung cancer awareness, pink ribbon, pink ribbon overload

Post from: Blisstree

Is the Pink Ribbon taking away from lung cancer awareness?

First, we read of research that says cell phone use cause brain cancer and not just any brain cancer, but a rare form of it. Then we read that it doesn’t cause the cancer because other researchers had different findings. But wait, yet more researchers say it does cause cancer. And what’s the latest? Apparently, we don’t know.

Click here to read more.

~~~

Tags: cancer blog, glioma, meningioma, acoustic neurinoma, cancer of salivary glands, cell phones and cancer, cell phones, brain cancer, head and neck cancer

Post from: Blisstree

So, is that cell phone safe or does it cause cancer?

As it happened, my friend became one of the first to receive a partial liver and when I last heard about her a few years ago, she was still doing well. I remember how sick she was and how scared she was. I also remember how wonderful the miracle of science was. So, imagine my dismay when I read this article, Liver Transplant Recipients Have Higher Cancer Risk, Study Suggests.

According to the article, people who had received a liver transplant were at a higher risk of developing cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and colorectal cancer. The researchers did point out though, that the risks were higher during the first year after receiving the transplant and among those who were younger.

~~~~

Tags: cancer blog, liver transplant, non hodgkin’s lymphoma, colorectal cancer, cancer risk, liver transplant recipient

Post from: Blisstree

Liver transplants save lives, but may up cancer risk

Well, according to the latest report that was published recently in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, caffeine does NOT increase the overall risk of developing breast cancer. *BUT*, if you have a history of benign breast disease or tumors that are hormone-receptor negative, caffeine could increase your risk.

If you’d like to read more about the findings, you can read the article, No Link Found Between Caffeine and Breast Cancer Risk.

Tell us what you think – have you ever limited your coffee or stopped drinking it altogether because of the news that it might cause breast cancer?

~~~

Image: MorgueFile.com

Tags: cancer blog, breast cancer, caffeine and breast cancer

Post from: Blisstree

Don’t let breast cancer fears turn you off coffee