HOW TO PREVENT CANCERS

The new report released today by the Institute of Medicine on recommended vitamin D intake is a bit like getting that shirt you wanted for your birthday, but it turned out to be the wrong color and the wrong size (report).  It’s sort of what you wanted but not really.While the new report kicks up recommended intake of vitamin D to 600 IU daily...

New data on the global burden of disease caused by exposure to second hand smoke (see report) adds to the urgency for action to prevent cancer heart disease asthma and other conditions caused by this exposure (Oberg M, Jaakkola MS et al. 2010). As noted in media coverage of the new findings, worldwide exposure to second had smoke is substantial –...

As anyone who's ever been on a diet knows: taking the pounds off can be hard, but keeping the pounds off can be even harder.  The main reason for this simply seems to be that it's just easier to keep up with a new exercise and diet program over the short term than it is over...

A study out this month in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention reviewed the literature on sedentary behavior and cancer. Ten of the 18 studies included in the review found a significant positive association between sedentary behavior and cancer risk - specifically cancers of the colorectum, endometrium, ovaries and prostate....

There is lots of talk in the news right now about scanning - mostly about the kind in airports and whether it is too great an invasion of privacy. But medical scanning has also been making headlines - specifically, whether we do too much of it unnecessarily, as CT and X-ray scans expose the body to radiation, which has risks. Recent reports indicated...

This morning, I had the extreme pleasure of hearing Dr. Bill Dietz of the CDC's Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity in the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion speak about Policy and Environmental Changes to Prevent and Control Obesity at the Washington University School of Medicine Grand Rounds. Dr. Dietz touched on...

I've been pretty reluctant to pick up best seller books about cancer and the history of cancer since I bought one a few years ago that I found so terrible I finally decided my time was being terribly misspent. So this morning's Morning Edition interview with Siddhartha Mukherjee, the author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer was...

As noted in the NCI Cancer Bulletin this week (see related story), Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Howard Koh, describes the new tobacco control strategy released this month as four pillars of strategic action. These high impact approaches are known to work.Change social norms around tobacco useImprove the public’s health through...

With summer a distant memory and fall giving way to the cold, darker days of winter, a lot of us put our sunscreen into storage, along with our shorts, sandals, and t-shirts.  But, even though the warmth of the sun may have gone on hiatus, some of its ultraviolet (UV) punch...

In the Journal of the National Cancer Institute a new study shows promise for reducing risk for beats cancer through another osteoporosis drug (Lacroix, Powles et al. 2010). Risk of breast cancer is reduced but the small number of women in the trial does not rule out side effects similar to tamoxifen. The potential for prevention of breast cancer...

CNiC recently gave a big endorsement of Mark Bittman’s new Food Matters cookbook. This week, we gave two of the recipes a whirl.One of the things that appeals to me about Bittman as a food writer is that he appreciates fine complex cuisine, but pushes us to realize that every meal...