The study, published in International Journal of Cancer in October 2009, included diets of 600 women, as well as 457 men between 25 and 75 years old in Nambour, Queensland. Researchers looked at the study participants’ daily intake of saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.

The study follow up lasted for 11 years, and researchers found that there’s generally no association between the amount of fat consumed and risk for basal cell or squamous cell cancers, except in the cases of people with a history of skin cancer. For participants with a history of skin cancer, higher total fat intake was linked with nearly a twofold increased risk of squamous cell skin cancer.

Tips for Eating Low Fat

• Once or twice a week, substitute a meal that normally includes meat with one that is vegetarian.
• Don’t skip meals. You’ll likely end up munching on unhealthy, sugary snacks to compensate.
• Keep healthy snacks around: apples, pears, grapes, bananas, whole-grain crackers, low-fat yogurt, carrots.
• Use portion control and eat slowly.
• Plan your meals ahead of time (before grocery shopping) to avoid high-fat impulse purchases.
• Before going out to eat, see if you can research online to find the fat content in menu items and make a healthier choice.

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Low-fat Eating After Skin Cancer

The Mayo Clinic published 10 tips to reduce cancer risk in their most recent issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

Here are the tips and below there’s more explanation:

1. Stop smoking
2. Limit alcohol intake – some alcohol is okay, too much is not
3. Follow recommended intake of fruits and vegetable (daily!)
4. Decrease the amount of fat in your daily diet
5. Lose weight if you’re too heavy, try to gain weight if you’re too thin
6. Move! Get active
7. Watch your skin (from the sun and don’t use tanning beds)
8. Don’t take chances when having sex. Protect yourself.
9. See your doctor regularly and take part in recommenced screening tests
10. If you have had cancer or are at particularly high risk, speak with your doctor about chemoprevention, which is taking medications to reduce the risk of new cancers

How and why do these steps help?

First of all, none of these are a surprise. All these recommendations, save for the last one, are recommended to help reduce the risk of developing many health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and more. So by following these tips, you’re helping your body more than you may realize.

Smoking: Did you know that smoking not only increases your risk of developing lung cancer, but also mouth (tongue, cheek, palate, throat, gum) cancer? Your risk of bladder cancer also climbs quite a bit. Smoking affects your whole body, not just your lungs. Also, the social act of smoking is often accompanied by other not-so-healthy lifestyle factors, like drinking alcohol, limiting exercise, and so on. By quitting the cigarettes, your risk drops every day you’re no longer a smoker.

Alcohol: Many of us like to enjoy a good glass of wine, a cold bottle of beer, a good scotch – and many of us limit ourselves to a moderate number of glasses. However, if you drink too much, more than the recommended amount for your sex, you increase your risk of mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon and rectum cancers.

Fruits and vegetables: It’s not that difficult to add the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet, but it does take planning. Unfortunately, with the hectic lifestyles many people lead these days, food planning often goes out the door. Five servings of fruits and vegetables daily are the minimal amount that you should be taking in. The thing is, servings are not huge, so this is not impossible. Two and a half cups of fruits or vegetables over the course of the day is maybe one apple, one tomato and a couple of stalks of celery. That’s not too much, is it?

Limiting fat: This one may be of the easiest things to do. Fat is an essential part of the human diet; we need it for our body to function properly. However, the type of fat and the amount you get is important.

This table, from the USDA, shows you how much fat you should have according to the number of calories you should have per day:

And this table, from the same source, gives you an idea of what foods have what fat:

Source: ARS Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17.

Weight control: Being a healthy weight for your body build helps your body in many ways. It can even help reduce the pain of osteoarthritis for some people. Being too thin also has health issues, so keep that in mind if you are trying to lose weight.

Get active: Enough said!

Watch your skin: Tanning is not beautiful – any change in your skin color means there is damage going on. Don’t use tanning beds – they’re even worse than the sun. Plus, too much sun exposure doesn’t just contribute to skin cancer, it makes your skin old, dry and wrinkly well before its time.

Protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections: Sex with people without protection exposes you to hepatitis and HIV, both of which are very high risk for cancer, let alone the disease itself. Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes genital warts, some of which can cause cervical cancer, cancer of the cervix.

Screening tests: Screening tests for prostate cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are all over the news, but don’t forget the other screenings that you can have done. You can have a colonoscopy to check for the beginnings of colon cancer and you can have your skin checked regularly to look for signs of skin cancer. If you are at high risk of a particular type of cancer, speak with your doctor about screening for that, as well. And, don’t forget your dentist. He or she is the one who can detect signs of oral cancer.

Chemoprevention: This is a relatively new area, most commonly known for women who take Tamoxifen to help reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back. You may want to speak with your doctor about this if you are at a high risk of cancer or you have already had it.

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Images: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Blisstree

10 Tips for Reducing Cancer Risk

While the sky isn’t falling in quite yet, there are major concerns about how the sunlight is affecting our skin and causing increasing numbers of serious and potentially fatal skin cancers. On the other hand, we also read about how we’re not getting enough sunlight and we’re becoming Vitamin D deficient.

Moderation is absolutely the key in most things. By taking in bits of sunshine to satisfy our vitamin D needs, we’re not usually exposing ourselves to enough sunlight to have to worry about melanoma (skin cancer). However, by believing in certain myths, we just may be increasing our risk.

To help you sort out what is what when it comes to sunshine and skin cancer, here is a video made by Dr. Neil Schultz,  a practicing NYC dermatologist. Click on the TV screen below to watch Dr. Schultz as he debunks five common myths about skin cancer.

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Image: iStock.com

Post from: Blisstree

5 Myths About Skin Cancer, Video Tuesday

Although we know it’s important to protect our skin from the sun to reduce the risk of skin cancer, as with everything, moderation and common sense needs to take hold. Unless their skin is very fragile, five to 10 minutes in the sun without sunscreen shouldn’t do any harm to their skin, but will be very beneficial for vitamin exposure. By removing the sun from a child’s life altogether, they are at higher risk for many other illnesses.

In a study published today in the online version of the journal Pediatrics, researchers write:

Seven out of ten U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease, according to a study of over 6,000 children by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The striking findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency could place millions of children at risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

Digging down further, researches found that 9% of the children were vitamin deficient, while 61% didn’t have enough vitamin D.

The highest risk children for low vitamin D levels were:

• older children
• girls
• African-American
• Mexican-American
• drank little milk (less than one per week)
• were sedentary (4 hours or more/day spend in front of a screen – TV, video, computer)

As if the low vitamin D levels weren’t bad enough, the researchers also found that other measurements were off. The parathyroid hormone, something that controls the blood calcium, were higher than they should be, blood pressure was higher, and the good cholesterol (HDL) levels were lower than they should be.

The researchers were stunned by how common the problem seems to be. They’re hoping that this research will alert doctors to look for signs of vitamin D deficiency (which can also lead to rickets – soft bones that can show by bow-leggedness, for example) and to encourage parents to give their children vitamin D-rich foods and get some sun exposure.

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Images courtesy PhotoXpress.com, iStock.com

Post from: Blisstree

Low Vit D in Kids Now = Problems Later

They have sounded warnings in the past about the use of tanning beds and booths, but they are still popular among many, particularly the younger adults and teens. The tanning done by this method allows strong ultraviolet rays to hit the skin and cause damage. This damage has a high chance of developing into skin cancer years down the road.

Researchers looked at 20 different studies and, using those study findings, concluded that the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75% when people start using tanning beds before they are 30 years old. The findings of this research were published in the most recent edition of the journal Lancet Oncology.

According to this U.S.A. Today article, Tanning beds now listed among top cancer risks, the sunbed industry disputes this, claiming that there’s never been a link between the two.

Ok, maybe the declaration that tanning beds are on par with mustard gas and arsenic may be pushing it, but it’s not hard to see why the doctors and researchers are concerned. As more young people use these tanning beds, more are being diagnosed years later with a deadly form of skin cancer called melanoma.

We know that too much sun causes skin cancer. We know that it’s the rays that cause it. Therefore, if the rays are used in tanning beds and booths, why do people expose themselves to it and take that risk?

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Photo: Newscom.com

Post from: Blisstree

Tanning Beds Deemed High Cancer Risk

It’s not that darker skinned people don’t have some protection from the sun’s rays. Studies have estimated that “for the darkest skin tones, pigmentation cells provide a natural sun protection factor, or SPF, of about 13.” As we’ve learned, however, 13 sun protection just doesn’t cut it. We need at least a 40 or higher.

Minorities are encouraged to use sunscreen and also watch any unusual changes in your skin. See a dermatologist yearly to get a full-body exam.

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Skin Cancer in Minorities on the Rise

IMG: Sxc.hu

“She was under-age but there was no staff there to stop her from using it. And there was no-one to give advice on using these potentially dangerous machines.”

This was one very lucky girl, even if she did get burned. Doctors said if she’d spent 2 more minutes inside the dangerous machine (at least for her) she would’ve been facing getting skin grafts. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld has wrote a post explaining that those that use tanning beds before 35 increase their chances of getting melanoma by 75%.

A sign on the door at the Electrik Avenue tanning centre reads: “Strictly over 16s only.”

There was a sign there that prohibits those younger than 16, however knowing children they won’t always obey especially when there are no adults present.

She was using the tanning bed to get herself that beautiful, golden tan just in time for summer. But now she’s been told she must stay out of the sun for the next 10 years in fear she will get skin cancer easier. Was it worth getting into the tanning bed? No.

What do you think of allowing your child/teen to use a tanning bed? Do you use one? Do you encourage your child to use one?

Here’s what some others are saying on the topic:
- Parent Dish wants to know if your kid using a tanning salon too.
- MomLogic is stating Kelly’s Mom wants all unmanned salons to get staff. I agree with this.

Post from: Blisstree

Tanning Beds: Do Your Kids/Teens Use Them?

The rise in melanoma is being attributed to binge tanning during holidays and the increasing use of tanning beds or sunbeds. SunSmart Caroline Cerny, manager for Cancer Research UK’s campaign, advises:

“Spending time on sunbeds is just as dangerous as staying out too long in sun. Sunbeds don’t offer a safe way to tan. The intensity of UV rays in some sunbeds can be more than 10 times stronger than the midday sun.”

According to SunSmart, risk factors for skin cancer include fair skin that burns easily, lots of moles or freckles, a history of sunburn (especially when young), red or fair hair, light-colored eyes and a personal or family history of skin cancer.

Those with one or more risk factors are advised to avoid sunburn by using shade, clothing and SPF 15 or higher sunscreen. Finding skin cancer early is crucial.

How are you protecting yourself against skin cancer?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Skin Cancer on Rise in UK Women

Earlier this week, a spot in his right cheek was removed as part of a routine check-up. Following biopsy results have showed that McCain is cancer-free.

Presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who has a history of dangerous melanomas, had a spot of skin removed from his face today, his campaign said.

The patch of skin was removed from McCain’s right cheek during a routine checkup in Arizona, the candidate said. In 2000, an invasive melanoma was removed from the senator’s left temple.

McCain denied there were any serious problems when he discussed the procedure at a campaign stop in Bakersfield.

Read more from the LA Times.

Post from: Blisstree

Melanoma Survivor John McCain, Remains Skin Cancer-Free

Such were the findings of Dr. Christine Brown, a dermatologist at at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

Lips are more susceptible than skin to aging from chronic sun damage and also more prone to developing serious cancers.

“When skin cancer occurs on the lower lip, it has the potential to be much more aggressive and metastasize to surrounding lymph nodes,” Brown said in a prepared statement.

Shiny balms and glosses don’t offer protection. Instead, they attract the sun’s rays to the lips.

“What most people don’t realize is they’re actually increasing light penetration through the lip surface by applying something clear and shiny to them,” Brown said.

Women should only wear glossy lipsticks in the sun when they have a layer of sun protection on underneath, dermatologists advise.

What fitting findings in time for the summer. Honestly, I never liked the shiny lip glosses and balms.

What about you? What lip balm or gloss do you use?

Find more details from The Washington Post.

Post from: Blisstree

Lip Balms, Glosses And Skin Cancer