Cancer - General

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General Cancer

Cancer Prevention Overview (PDQ®)

"The summaries in the cancer prevention section of PDQ address the prevention of specific types of cancer. Prevention is defined as the reduction of cancer mortality via reduction in the incidence of cancer. This can be accomplished by avoiding a carcinogen or altering its metabolism; pursuing lifestyle or dietary practices that modify cancer-causing factors or genetic predispositions; and/or medical intervention (chemoprevention) to successfully reverse preneoplastic changes. Much of the promise for cancer prevention comes from observational epidemiologic studies that show associations between modifiable lifestyle factors or environmental exposures and specific cancers. … The most consistent finding, over decades of research is the strong association between tobacco use and cancers of many sites. Hundreds of epidemiologic studies have confirmed this association. Further support comes from the fact that lung cancer death rates in the United States have mirrored smoking patterns with increases in smoking followed by dramatic increases in lung cancer death rates, and more recently decreases in smoking followed by decreases in lung cancer death rates in men. Infections may also be associated with cancer development. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary event for subsequent cervix cancer, and vaccine-conferred immunity results in a marked decrease in precancerous lesions. … Additional examples of modifiable cancer risk factors include alcohol consumption (associated with increased risk of oral, esophageal, breast, and other cancers), physical inactivity (associated with increased risk of colon, breast, and possibly other cancers), and obesity (associated with colon, breast, endometrial, and possibly other cancers). Observational evidence shows associations between alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and obesity and increased incidence of certain cancers."

Highlighted Articles

Vitamin D and Sunlight: Strategies for Cancer Prevention and Other Health Benefits. (Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2008) “Lack of sun exposure and vitamin D deficiency have been linked to many serious chronic diseases, including autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and deadly cancers. It is estimated that there is a 30 to 50% reduction in risk for developing colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer by either increasing vitamin D intake to least 1000 IU/d vitamin D or increasing sun exposure to raise blood levels of 25(OH)D >30 ng/ml. Most tissues in the body have a vitamin D receptor. The active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, is made in many different tissues, including colon, prostate, and breast. It is believed that the local production of 1,25(OH)2D may be responsible for the anticancer benefit of vitamin D. Recent studies suggested that women who are vitamin D deficient have a 253% increased risk for developing colorectal cancer, and women who ingested 1500 mg/d calcium and 1100 IU/d vitamin D3 for 4 yr reduced risk for developing cancer by >60%.”

Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: Pooled analysis. (J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007) "CONCLUSIONS: Intake of 2000IU/day of Vitamin D(3), and, when possible, very moderate exposure to sunlight, could raise serum 25(OH)D to 52ng/ml, a level associated with reduction by 50% in incidence of breast cancer, according to observational studies."

Sun Exposure and Prostate Cancer Risk: Evidence for a Protective Effect of Early-Life Exposure (Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2007) "These findings suggest that, in addition to sun exposure in adulthood, sun exposure in early life protects against prostate cancer."

Highlighted Internet Site

NCI - General Cancer Prevention Information (includes specific cancers)

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Cancer - General

General Information

NEWS:

Cancer Linked to Behavior in Elderly “About 80 percent of cancer diagnoses occur in the elderly, but many of their risk factors for the disease are behavioral, a new study revealed. The Duke University study was done to estimate the impact measurable risk factors have on cancer in the elderly. It revealed more than 80 percent of known risk factors in individuals 65 years of age or older are potentially preventable. Some of the risk factor/cancer links were similar to those found in The National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS). Physical activity especially impacted colon and prostate cancers. Tobacco use was also significantly linked to lung cancer. Surprisingly, cancer risk was not related to alcohol consumption, which other studies have shown.”

Cancer Survival Rates Vary by Country: Study Shows U.S., Japan, and France Have Highest Cancer Survival Rates “The highest survival rates were found in the U.S. for breast and prostate cancer, in Japan for colon and rectal cancers in men, and in France for colon and rectal cancers in women, Coleman's team reports. In Canada and Australia, survival was also high for most cancers. The lowest cancer survival rates for all four cancers were found in Algeria.“

Depression ups cancer death risk

Hysterectomy: Out With the Ovaries or Not “There is not enough evidence to justify the routine removal of the ovaries during hysterectomy -- a common practice that may convey as many risks as benefits for premenopausal women, a new analysis suggests. About half of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed in the U.S. each year include surgical removal of the ovaries along with the uterus. The most common reason cited for ovary removal is to prevent ovarian cancer. But there is growing evidence that ovary removal may be associated with an increased risk for heart disease and stroke, and other age-related diseases, such as osteoporosis and even dementia.”

Medicare Costs for Cancer Treatment Soar: Increased expenses for chemotherapy may affect treatment decisions, expert says

Nova Scotia has the highest cancer rate in Canada, new statistics confirm

Overall Cancer Incidence and Death Rates Fall Significantly in the United States

Skin Cancer May Foretell Cancers to Come “The new study, from Johns Hopkins and the Medical University of South Carolina, tracked 769 patients who had non-melanoma skin cancer -- the most common form in the United States -- and 18,405 people who had not had the illness and found that those who had skin cancer were twice as likely to develop another form. “

US Cancer Death Rate Still Falling, Just

Why Past Oral Contraceptive Use Dramatically Lowers Risk Of Ovarian And Uterine Cancers “While researchers have known for many years that past oral contraceptive use significantly lowers the risk of ovarian and uterine cancers later in life, this new observation in monkeys may shed light on the mechanism behind the cancer-protective effect of the treatment. Past oral contraceptive use appears to result in a long-term change in the way the monkeys' bodies process hormones. While researchers don't yet understand the precise mechanism by which hormone levels are being affected, they do know that both the level of estrogen in the blood and the amount of estrogen being excreted in urine are lowered with past oral contraceptive use, which may mean that the oral contraceptive use is somehow leading to a diminished synthesis of estrogen.”

ARTICLES:

Cancer's Fine Line

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

An ecological study of cancer mortality rates including indices for dietary iron and zinc. (Anticancer Res. 2008) “CONCLUSION: Although there are mechanisms that explain why zinc should reduce the risk of cancer, whereas iron should increase the risk, these indices may represent the dietary sources of these nutrients, e.g. whole grains for zinc and red meat for iron, and other components of these dietary factors.”

Cancer risk by education in Iceland; a census-based cohort study. (Acta Oncol. 2008)

Curcumin and cancer: An "old-age" disease with an "age-old" solution. (Cancer Lett. 2008)

Has Pain Management in Cancer Patients with Bone Metastases Improved? A Seven-Year Review at An Outpatient Palliative Radiotherapy Clinic. (J Pain Symptom Manage. 2008)

Low Serum Levels of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Predict Fatal Cancer in Patients Referred to Coronary Angiography (Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2008) “In summary, our data suggest that low levels of 25(OH)D are associated with increased risk of fatal cancer in patients referred to coronary angiography and that the maintenance of a sufficient vitamin D status might therefore be a promising approach for the prevention and/or treatment of cancer.”

Optimal Cancer Care Across the Spectrum of Life and Disease (The American Journal of Managed Care 2008)

State Ranks of Incident Cancer Burden due to Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 2003. (Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008)

Surveillance for cancers associated with tobacco use --- United States, 1999--2004. (MMWR Surveill Summ. 2008)

The incidence of the risk of malnutrition in adult medical oncology outpatients and commonly-associated symptoms. (J Hum Nutr Diet. 2008)

[The risk of cancer in the Netherlands] (Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2008) “RESULTS: One out of every 2.3 newborn males (43.9%) and one out of every 2.6 newborn females (38.1%) in the Netherlands will develop cancer sometime during their life. The risk of developing cancer before the age of 80 is 35.9% for newborn males and 30.2% for newborn females. Women run the greatest risk of developing breast cancer (almost 13%). 50-year-old women have a risk of almost 3% of being diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 60. Men have the greatest risk of a diagnosis of prostate cancer (almost 10%). The risk for a 50-year-old man of being diagnosed with prostate cancer within the subsequent 10 years however is less than 1%.”

Vitamins E and C in the Prevention of Prostate and Total Cancer in Men: The Physicians' Health Study II Randomized Controlled Trial. (JAMA. 2008) “CONCLUSIONS: In this large, long-term trial of male physicians, neither vitamin E nor C supplementation reduced the risk of prostate or total cancer. These data provide no support for the use of these supplements for the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men.”

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