HOW TO PREVENT CANCERS

While lifestyle contributes substantially more to risk of cancer (and other chronic diseases) than genetics alone, the interplay between genetics and lifestyle is a subject of increasing interest. That's what makes a new study out of the UK, published in PLoS Medicine so exciting. The researchers took 12 genetic mutations that had previously been...

On Friday, the federal government announced that effective immediately Medicare would cover the cost of smoking cessation counseling. Anyone covered by Medicare will be able to receive tobacco cessation counseling from a qualified physician or other Medicare-recognized practitioner who can work with them to help them quit. (All people with Medicare...

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported yesterday (see full report) that 1 in 5 hospitalizations in 2008 involved a person with diabetes. This amounted to 7.7 million hospital stays at a cost of $83 billion in just the hospital costs. Diabetics had hospital stays that were longer, on average, and more likely to originate in the emergency...

Recent media reports highlight how a lack of state policy on cigarette taxes can drive a state to have high cancer rates. Missouri is a fine US example which now has the lowest tax on cigarettes in the nation (17 cents per pack). State level policy impacting cancer is not limited to just cigarettes and increased burden from smoking-related...

1     breast cancer     4,390             2     prostate cancer     2,346             3     skin cancer     2,112            ...

Today I hopped over to Forbes.com to review their "most stressful cities" list (and was relieved that St Louis wasn't topping another "bad" place to live list -- I think topping the syphilis list is enough). While I was there, a link to a list of "10 foods you should be eating" caught my eye. I'm always wary of such lists, and this one provided a...

It's a common theme here at Cancer News in Context - the important role our social and physical surroundings play in our health choices (previous posts).  The current issue of CDC's journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, is devoted almost solely to one aspect of this: creating...

In previous posts, we’ve talked about implementing the weekday vegetarian plan or moving from your farm share box to a meal plan. For those who don’t have a big pile of recipes in the kitchen (or who are at work trying to figure out what to make for dinner that night), the internet...

We have covered numerous aspect of the obesity epidemic over the past 3 months. The report last week on rising obesity in America continues to point to the growing burden now and into the future that our lifestyle and social structures are  facilitating. Time (see article) covered a new research study showing weight gain during pregnancy increases...

The health making headline this morning is the latest data out of the CDC indicating that obesity rates are continuing to rise across the country – topping 30% of the population in nine US states. Yet, just a few months ago, weren’t we celebrating the headline that obesity rates had plateaued and stopped rising based on data from the CDC?In a word,...

In the August issue of Health Affairs (vol 29, no8 pages 1481-88), David Williams and colleagues summarized the report of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America. Much of the focus of this report is on the need for actions at all levels of society to promote the development and maintenance of health rather than depending...

This week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the launch of a new scoring system in grocery stores developed by the company, NuVal, which worked with a panel of (reputable) nutrition and health experts to create a scoring system that can be used to evaluate the nutritional...