Stand Up To Cancer

I'll start off this week's roundup with some alarming news out of the University of Texas: based on current demographic trends, researchers are predicting a 67% increase in the number of adults over 65 diagnosed with cancer by 2030 - 1.6 million by then as opposed to one million now. "In 2030, 70 percent of all cancers will be diagnosed in the elderly and 28 percent in minorities, and the number of older adults diagnosed with cancer will be the same as the total number of Americans diagnosed with cancer in 2010," said one of the docs involved in the research.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE53S7PL20090429

Elsewhere, some more encouraging news: new research indicates that women were ten times as likely to do breast self-exams if they took part in a counseling program that included one in-person session and two follow-up phone calls. The 600 women involved in the study were divided into two groups. One received dietary counseling and the other watched an education video about BSE and practiced the technique on a silicone model. One year later, 60% of the women in the BSE group were still performing adequate self-exams; only 12% from the other group were doing the same.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/04/30/hscout626563.html

And in other breast cancer news, Canadian researchers have found that breast cancer risk assessment can potentially start much earlier than it currently does: in a study of 400 women, ages 15 to 39, and their mothers, the docs found that breast tissue composition in young women may be correlated with cancer risk. "By identifying the environmental and genetic factors that influence breast tissue composition early in life, we may be able to develop safe and effective methods of prevention," the study's lead author said.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/age-/626562.html

Hey, remember CT colonography? It's the non-invasive, non-painful-and-humiliating way of finding colon polyps, and earlier this year Medicare decided not to reimburse for it, indicating that current research wasn't sufficient to justify using the more expensive technique over traditional colonoscopy. Now a fresh study out of the University of Wisconsin indicates that radiologists using CTC can predict with a very high degree of accuracy whether or not a polyp needs to be further evaluated or removed. CMS, are you reading this?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423132654.htm

Statins. Millions of people in the US take them to lower cholesterol; now a little facility you may have heard of called the Mayo Clinic has found that statin use is associated with a three-fold reduction in a man's risk of developing prostate cancer. "What's good for the heart is also good for the prostate," summarized the study's principal investigator.
http://www.cancerpage.com/news/article.asp?id=13366

Finally, I'll wrap up this week's links with - you guessed it - a food story. This week's super-food is the apple, which no fewer than six different studies have recently found to have anti-cancer properties. Fortunately for we Americans, apples are a national favorite, providing 33% of the cancer-fighting phenolics consumed by the average US resident annually. I guess the old adage is true, with a slight update: an apple a day keeps the oncologist away!
http://www.ajho.com/Numerous-Studies-Report-Multiple-Anti-Breast-Cancer-Properties-in-Apples/article/131451/

That's all I've got this time around, but I'll see you next Thursday for more links!

--Cat