Do you have cancer?

Do you know someone that does? Have you or someone you know survived cancer? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to read on!

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) has released an educational DVD called "Food for the Fight, Guidelines for Healthy Nutrition During and After Cancer Treatment". It is full of practical dietary strategies to help survivors remain healthy during treatment and prevent recurrence of their cancer.

The third most common killer in the U.S. is stroke. The Interstroke study of stroke cases in 22 countries ranked the most common risk factors as follows:

1. Hypertension
2. Smoking
3. Abdominal obesity
4. Healthy diet and physical activity.

A history of high blood pressure increased the risk by 2.5 times, and smoking by more than double. Regular exercise cut stroke by more than 30%.

PositiveTip: All these risk factors are related to positive lifestyle choices. What choices are you making? 

An article published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine documented the fact that whole grains have a powerful effect in preventing type 2 diabetes. This study included data from nearly 40,000 men and more than 150,000 women who were followed for several years.

Research often focuses on how specific foods or nutrients affect our risk of disease risk. In reality, our food and nutrients interact in very complex and subtle ways. So it is a good idea to find studies that look at disease risks based on food patterns.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in developed countries. While we know that  factors such as obesity, family history, menstrual history, and the number of children modify women's risk of cancer, these are difficult -- if not impossible -- to change. But diet can be changed!

A simple, individualized nutrition plan (2000 kcal/day) combined with a walking program of more than 10,000 steps per day during the second and third trimesters in overweight or obese women kept weight gain within norms. More than half of the women had attained their pre-pregnancy weight within two months of delivery. This kind of plan would help normal weight as well as overweight women avoid excess weight gain during pregnancy and weight retention after delivery as well.

PositiveTip: Regular exercise and a nutritious diet will help keep weight gains within norms and prevent post-delivery weight retention.

I like really big population studies. The conclusions reached are valid and extremely accurate. Small studies with few participants are subject to many types of bias. The results of small studies are often debatable and not dependable.

The second Nurses’ Health Study enrolled 83,882 adult women 27-44 years of age. At the beginning of the study in 1991, all these women had normal blood pressure, (systolic 120 or less and diastolic 80 or less), and no diabetes, heart disease or cancer. These women were followed for 14 years through 2005. During the study, 12, 319 women developed high blood pressure and the rest didn’t.

Many studies have examined the relationship between diet and depression. The studies largely look at individual nutrients rather than dietary patterns as a whole. In a recent study of 3485 men and women in England, a comparison was made between rates of depression of individuals eating a “processed food” diet and those eating a “whole food” diet.

Have you noticed how everyone is getting fatter? Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. I think we need to begin to use the words "glutton" and "gluttony" more. 

Gluttony was one of the church's seven deadly sins two or three hundred years ago. The entire list includes: Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Gluttony includes more than eating too much food.  

Thomas Aquinas expanded the common view of gluttony to incude an excessive anticipation of meals, which is craving for food. Aquinas developed a list of six ways to commit gluttony including:

As promised in the last post, I will share with you more of my impressions of the 2009 American Institute for Cancer Research's Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago:

Aging:

My head is spinning this evening! Not because I am dizzy, but because all day I have been attending the 2009 American Institute for Cancer Research's Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer in Washington, DC. It is really amazing how much is known about risk factors, genetics, treatment, and prevention of this dread disease! Here are a few "headlines" from my notes of today.

Colorectal Cancer: