A recent study has revealed shocking news that parents who pack their children’s lunch boxes with ham and salami sandwiches may increase the risk of their kids getting cancer. The WCRF (World Cancer Research Fund) has proved this fact with evidence and says that processed meat including ham, salami, hotdog and bacon significantly raise the risk of dangerous bowel cancer. Experts at World Cancer Research Fund advise that parents can choose cheese (low-fat), fish, poultry or small amounts of lean meat as fillings for sandwiches instead of going for processed meats.

According to WCRF, fillers like salami and ham could develop unhealthy food habits in children and also increase the risk of cancer in later part of their life.

Speaking on this Marni Craze, Children’s Education Manager, WCRF, said that if children are given processed meat every day for their lunch, they will be eating a lot of it over the span of the school year. She added that it is better if children are thought to view processed meat as a rare treat.

Craze said that putting processed meat including ham or salami or any other high calorie snacks in kids’ sandwich may seem a convenient option especially for parents who have a tight schedule to prepare healthy lunch for their children. She explained that packed lunch is an essential part of any child’s diet that is pretty easy to prepare and does not require much effort or time to make it more nutritious.

Craze quoted an example that putting green salad as fillers in sandwich will effectively count towards 5 portions of vegetables and fruits that the children should consume every day. A glass of fruit juice may also add up to another portion if it is given instead of a fizzy drink. Speaking of the alternatives to processed meat she said pre-processed chicken, fish, hummus or low-fat cheese can be used as replacement.

Note : The WCRF recommends only about 70g of meat or 3 slices of bacon in a week.

According to a researchers report, a new drug for building bones has been found successful in a test conducted for men who had undergone a hormone therapy used for curing prostate cancer, as a result of which their bones had been weakened.

Amgen Inc. believes that denosumab (Prolia), the drug, which is a monoclonal anti-body, can be marketed for prevention of fractures not only in the men who have prostate cancer but also for the post-menopausal ladies who are undergoing hormone therapy procedure for the treatment of their breast cancer. An advisory panel from the US FDA has been scheduled for a meeting very soon to consider upon the application made by Amegen.

The author of the study, Dr. Matthew R. Smith, the director of genitourinary medical oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital said that 2 million men in America receive the hormone blocking therapy for treating prostate cancer and from one third to around one half of them are potentially using Denosumab.

Denosumab works by blocking the activities of the molecule which causes destruction of the bone cells. Due to the lack of hormones, both men and women lose bones. Patients are given intravenous injection of this drug once in every 6 months.

Smith said that this study is an important one because there has no large scale study for men before which deals in preventing fractures. Over 900 men were enrolled in the study who were already receiving treatment at 156 different medical centers of US and Europe.

It was found that over a period of 2 years, the density of bones increased by 5.6% in men who received denosumab and decreased by 1% in men who were received a placebo. Over 3 years, incidences of fractures of the spine was 1.5% among people who received denosumab while 3.9% in those who received placebo.

Dr. Sundeep Khosla, a medicinal professor in Endocrine Research Unit of Mayo Clinic, wrote a supplementary editorial in which he mentioned that although denosumab is a significant drug and largely effects the condition in both the studies published, it is yet to be decided whether it can be used in prostate cancer therapy or not.

Khosla said that several other drugs are now being in use for preventing bone fractures in men who have received treatment for prostate cancer. Because all other drugs seem to have a similar sort of efficiency, the position of this drug is yet to be decided.

Khosla said that zoledronic acid (Zometa) seems to give tough competition to Denosumab. Zometa is a new member in the family of bone-building bisphosphonate. It is also given intravenously, requiring only one injection in the whole year. But the main difference and point of consideration is that zoledronic acid has to be taken under professional guidance of a physician only while Denosumab can be taken under self-administration.

Cost also seems to be a major issue for use of these drugs. A generic bisphosphonate may be available at as low as only $100 in a year while zoledronic acid comes at the wholesale rate of $1300 per year. Khosla said we still do not know how much Amgen will set the cost for the drug. But whatever will be the price, it will be a great thing for some groups of patients. Khosla also agrees with the statement from Smith that around one third to one half of men who receive hormone blocking therapy will be in these groups.

There are some concerns that denosumab can have some effects over the immune system of the person because the molecule that is blocked by it plays a significant role in a human body’s immune response. A study conducted on the post-menopausal women showed some problems related to the immunity such as increase in eczema incidences. Khosla said that although there have been concerns; they are not significant enough to disapprove the medication, although a surveillance may be needed.

Scientists have developed a drug for the cancer disease which destroys the lethal cells that give birth to the cancer tumors. It has already been successful in dealing with breast cancer and it has offered a hope to people who are suffering from cancer in their bowel, skin or prostate.

The drug works by killing the cancer stem cells that help cancer tumors to grow and spread the disease to entire body of the patient. Unlike all other cancer cells, the ‘mother’ stem cells are not effectively abolished by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as a result of which the cancer may returns after the treatment.

In the laboratory tests, Salinomycin, a new drug, was hundred times more efficient in destroying the stem cells as compared to powerful Taxol, the chemo treatment. When the drug injections were given to mice suffering from breast cancer, it also resulted in slowing down of the tumor growth. According to a journal Cell report, stem cells that were treated with Salinomycin were less capable of starting tumor in animals than the cells which were treated with Taxol.

The researchers from the US believe that a good number of drugs with similar capabilities can be developed in the period of next few years and that the treatment for cancer is only about 10 years away from reaching the market.

The new drug can be combined with the standard therapies so that the cancer stem cells that are left behind after the traditional methods of treatment can be mopped away from the body. Thus the chances of the return of cancer will be abolished.

It can also stop the cancer cells to get spread in other parts of the body. This condition is a very common cause of deaths of 155,000 patients suffering from cancer every year.

Piyush Gupta, from the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, commented that until now, it was not clear whether it is possible to find the compounds that can selectively kill the cancer stem cells. But with this research, this thought has come true. Their work has revealed how targeting the cancer stem cells are affected biologically. Apart from that, it also suggests an approach to find novel therapies to treat cancer which are applicable to any solid tumors maintained by the cancer stem cells.

In the beginning, the researchers found a way to create cancer stem cells in the laboratory in large numbers. Then 16,000 chemicals were tested on the cells to check whether or not any of them and which of them proved to be toxic.

The antibiotic, Salinomycin, was given to the farm animals which came out to be the winner in the tests. It was also successful in zapping breast cancers in mice. A lot of work is needed for identifying how it works and for establishing whether it can be effective for human tumors. If it is found to be safe to be used, several years of rigorous testing on a large scale will be required before the drug can be sent to the market. Even after this, there is no way to confirm whether it will work on all the tumors. However, a lot of excitement has taken place among the experts.

John Stingl from the Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Institute, compared the death of the cancer stem cells with gardening. He said that treating cancer is like mowing your garden. Every time you cut out the dandelions, every time they come back. The main thing is the roots which are the stem cells in case of cancer tumors. If there are different treatments that work on different parts, they can be combined together to bring a bigger effect.

Professor Colin Goding, an expert of stem cells at the Oxford University, warned that there can be dangers that the drug may kill wrong type of cells also inside the body.

Fresh studies have aimed at secluding a tiny molecule that might in effect, be a big combater of a typical kind of lung cancer. Such cancer is found in people that have no history of smoking and heralds a new age for treating the dreaded malignant cells.

The microRNA miR-21 was especially heightened in adenocarcinomas hitting non-smokers; mainly those who have tested positive for mutations pertaining to epidermal growth factor receptor gene. Each year, one tenth of lung cancer sufferers happen to be people who never touched cigarettes.

Researchers from America and Japan who have indulged in this study are strong in conviction that miR-21 protein is not only a sign of the disease akin to PSA levels for prostrate cancer screenings, but also contributor of the disease.

Medical fraternity has long believed that there is a huge difference between those people who have never smoked and those who have been smoking in terms of acquiring lung cancer. Among people who have never smoked, adenocarcinomas happens to be the most common type of lung cancer. It is a type of non-small cell cancer, which can occur in some higher mammals, including humans. Non-small cell carcinoma is by far the most common type of lung cancer in US.

Scientists have tested cancer samples from some 28 patients, all non-smoking ones and suffering from adenocarcinoma. In comparison to those samples that had been taken from smokers, suffering from the same disease, miR-21 was present in a very heightened form in those patients who had never smoked all life.

MiR-21 is also present in heightened amount in those people who have adenocarcinomas pertaining to tobacco intake, but to a lesser extent. Research conducted earlier clearly suggested that miR-21 and microRNAs were signs of bad survival percentage for lung cancer caused by smoking.

Lung carcinoma in all forms is very difficult to be cured. Less than one tenth of people survive for five years after being attacked by the disease. 160000 Americans die of the curse each year. This makes the researchers pretty enthused on finding anything that helps them target a therapy on the cancer cells. Dr. Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, further suggested the finding shows that there are plenty of reasons to believe that adenocarcinomas for non-smoker exhibiting miR-21 elevation could be treated.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have conducted recent studies, which reveal how hormone independent late state prostate cancer tumors are able to grow independently without the hormones. When this happens, it means that the prostate cancer has reached the advanced stage and is not able to be cured.

The study was published in the July 2009 issue of the Cell and focuses upon the androgen receptors, the molecules present in the nucleus of prostate gland cells and some other tissues. Androgens, the male sex hormones, get bound with these androgen receptors and ultimately, activate the genes which control the growth of cells.

According to the research, in the prostate cancer that does not need androgens to grow, the androgen receptors get reprogrammed for regulating the group of genes that are involved in a later, different phase of division of cells. This triggers the growth of cells rapidly. It is further shown that modifying the chief component of chromosome lead to this kind of reprogramming.

Qianben Wang, the assistant professor of cellular and molecular biochemistry and one of the researchers in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center- James Cancer Hospital and the Solove Research Institute said that although some of the prostate cancers in the advanced stage do not need androgen hormones for their tumor growth, but they require the androgen receptors.

The study reveals how androgen receptors are important for development of prostate cancer that has become hormone independent. It studies how these androgens become active and what genes are regulated by them to support the growth of the tumor. After these findings, prostate cancer can be understood in a better way and new therapies can be identified to get rid of this cancer and new treatments can be developed to cure the disease even at an advanced stage.

Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men. In the year 2009, more than 192,250 cases of prostate cancer have been expected in US alone and around 27, 360 deaths are anticipated due to the disease.

The study has been conducted by Wang, Dr. Myles Brown, and some colleagues. Brown is working as a professor medicine at the Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. They used the cell lines of both hormone dependent and independent prostate cancer, data from gene expression and tissues from the human tumors. The study showed that in the hormone-dependent prostate cancer, an earlier phase of the cell cycle is regulated by the androgen receptors. In hormone-independent disease, the receptors receive a reprogramming for selectively regulating the genes that are involved in the division of cells, which is known as the mitotic phase of the cell cycle.

UBE2C, a gene, stood out among the other genes and the increased expression of this gene was in co-relation with the progression to the phase in which the prostate cancer becomes hormone-independent. In addition to that, epigenetic change is a chemical change in the histone protein that is associated with the gene enables the androgen receptors be become bound with the gene and activate it in the hormone-independent cancer.

Finally, it was shown that the over-expression of these genes is essential for the cancer cells responsible for hormone-independent prostate cancer. Wang says that the UBE2C gene also gets over-expressed in others types of cancer including breast, bladder, lung, ovary, esophageal and thyroid. This suggests that the findings revealed from the study can have a much wider application. Funding for the study is supported by the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense.

A peer-reviewed journal of medicine, published by the American Cancer Society, recently stated that men who drink alcohol heavily have higher risk of developing prostate cancer. It is also found that the use of heavy alcohol may also diminish the effects of finasteride, a drug which is used to reduce prostate cancer risk.

The study has been based on the PCPT (Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial), a study conducted by the National Cancer Institute, which proved that finasteride is effective in enlarging the prostates so that men can urinate freely. Finasteride was believed to reduce risk of prostate cancer by at least 25%.

In the study, the researchers of University of California observed the drinking pattern of more than ten thousand men which included the frequency, type and amount of alcohol the men were taking. It has been found that, men who consumed at least 50 gms of alcohol every day and men who drank heavily (more than 5 times per week) had more risk of developing high grade prostate cancer. High grade cancer is the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. 50 gms of alcohol is equivalent to 3.5 liquor drinks or 4 beers or 4 wine glasses. The study also showed that men who consume beer heavily are at a higher risk as compared to liquor or wine. But this conclusion may be the result of the fact that men drink more beer than any other type of alcohol.

Taking finasteride can lower the risk of low-grade prostate cancer but if one consumed alcohol heavily, then it is believed that alcohol is able to cancel out the effects of finasteride and thus it is not effective on heavy drinkers. Alcohol is known to interfere with the enzymes that are required for the processing of the drug. If you take finasteride for decreasing prostate cancer risk and at the same time, consume alcohol, then you must consult your doctor who will tell you whether you should continue taking the drug or not. This may lead to some difficult adverse effects like no interest in sex and erectile dysfunction.

If you are a regular alcohol drinker, then you should consider to cut back. Although its relation with prostate cancer is still not proven, alcohol is known to be linked with other type of cancers like throat cancer, larynx cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, esophagus cancer and colon cancer. Women are advised by the American Cancer Society to take only one drink in a day while men can take up to 2 drinks per day.

In general terms, a drink means beer (12 ounces) or wine (5 ounces) or 80 proof distilled spirits (1.5 ounces). It would also be better to consult a doctor to know about other life style choices that can be helpful in reducing risk of cancer. These may include maintaining healthy body weight, doing regular exercise, eating healthy diet and taking regular cancer screening.

The results of this study seem to be different from those of other studies and according to the researchers, more studies are required to be conduced to confirm these findings.

Great news to all those who had been working hard to find the cure for neuroblastoma, as scientist have uncovered the first link between the lethal disease and a kind of genetic disorder called as CNV or copy number variation. This genetic defect is qualified by some extra bits or missing DNA. This discovery came into picture when a group of scientists in Paris were involved in a study on neuroblastoma, the most dangerous paediatric disorder that affects the nervous system and that is responsible for 15% of cancer deaths in children. Researchers under the leadership of John Maris of the Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia have discovered that the genetic defect, Copy Number Variation or CNV on chromosome 1 is a serious contender in development of this disease that mainly affects infants.

The study also stated that this absence stretch of DNA normally occurs within a group of genes involved in the growth of our central nervous system. This absence stretch thus affects amount of genes (with missing DNA) that are produced within the normal cells and the cancerous cells. Speaking in a phone interview, Maris states that, this result was indeed a new area of study and they never suspected that this family of genes with missing DNA would play a vital role in neuroblatoma. It is also worth mentioning here that, in a research published last year, Maris and others isolated a gene called ALK which can by itself cause a rare hereditary disease. Even last month, the scientists have uncovered another gene known as BARD1 that raises the child’s susceptibility to some extent.

This new study that is published in Nature, a British journal, has proved significant not only because it adds another feather to the neuroblastoma’s puzzle hat but also it has opened a new path that shows even genetic material can become risky cancer agents. Though it has been widely suspected that Copy Number Variations could lead to tumors but the path to prove this has been really tough.

With the help of powerful computers, Maris compares the DNAs of health persons and those suffering from cancer to conduct a genome-wide association study. With this technique, hundreds of links between cancer and DNA were uncovers but none showed the relationship between the deadly disease and CNV. But this study reveals a strong hypothesis showing the effect of these CNVs on paediatric cancer said Maris speaking to a telephonic interview. He also added that these results will also prove vital to find the association of these CNVs with other types of cancers as well. This study makes it clear that there is no strict definition of what is hereditary when it comes to any disease including cancer.

The study also states that only few conditions like the Mendelian diseases are caused by the mutations in a single gene. Most other disorders are caused by a complex of chain of genes and also environmental conditions that are mostly difficult to trace out. Explaining this fact, Maris stated only 1 or 2 % of neuroblastoma runs in the families while the rest occur only by chance. This genome-wide association study is now proving that it is not the chance but the genetic susceptibility with the right inheriting risk factors from both mom and dad that is causing the disease.

Weight loss surgeries are intended to cut excess amount of weight from our body. But do you know that these surgeries may also reduce the risk of cancer in women. This surprising finding was released on Tuesday by a group of Swedish researchers who discovered that weight loss surgery may also help obese women to lower the risks of developing cancer.

The 10-year study published on Lancet Oncology reported that women who had undergone weight loss surgery are 42 percent less likely to come into contact with cancer. The study also revealed that men on the other hand did not benefit much from the surgery mainly because only a small number of men had undergone these surgeries and most of the cancers are result of female hormones like estrogen.

People have long known that obesity can increase the risk of cancer. A recent study released in the Journal of American Medical Association reported that people who were obese at young age have higher probability to develop pancreatic cancer. This group of people has twice the risk of getting aggressive pancreatic cancer that may lead to death.

In the study headed by Lars Sjostrom of Sahlgrenska University, Gothenburg, researchers compare 2010 obese patients who had undergone weight loss surgery with 2037 obese patients who tried standard diet and other exercise for weight loss treatment. The results were truly in favor of the weight loss surgery group as people in this category lost almost 19.9 kg or 43 pounds of weight over the study period of 10 years while the other group of people following diet and exercise gained 1.3 kg.

Weight loss surgeries were also reported to cut the risks of cancer by 1/3 with women enjoying the maximum benefit. The results showed that among the surveyed women, 79 had first time cancers in the weight loss surgery category compared to 130 among those who employed exercise and diet to reduce their weight.

When asked about the benefits for men, Dr. Andrew Renehan of University of Manchester, UK, said that only fewer men participated in the study and hence the result. He also said that women were the one who were more likely to get affected by cancer, mainly the post-menopausal breast and endometrial cancers. Renehan added that the effects of weight loss surgery would take longer time to show up in men who are prone mostly to colon and kidney cancers that take longer time to become evident.

Adding to the points of Renehan, Dr. Leena Khaitan also confirmed the fact that 80% of patients who undergo weight loss surgery are women and thus makes the difference in the benefits enjoyed by women with the surgery. She also praised the efforts of the researchers and added that study like this may be important to show people that weight loss surgery may be a way to prevent deadly diseases like cancer.

To a certain degree, men are more likely to develop and die from a form of cancer than women. Recent UK studies revealed that men have greater cancer risk than women. In fact, men are 60% more likely to develop and 70% more likely to die from cancers that affect both sexes (excluding breast cancer and other form of cancers that are gender specific).

There seems to be no biological explanation for this gap between sexes and it is as though that certain lifestyle changes could help prevent most of the cancers. Apparently women are far more careful when it comes to their health while men should be more aware of their own health and visit the doctors more frequently. Experts say, men reluctance to adopt a healthy lifestyle might be the reason why men have greater cancer risk.

Men are far less health conscious than women and this seems to fuel the gap between sexes when it comes to cancer mortality. Professor David Forman, researcher and member of the National Cancer Intelligence Network, said there’s no biological reason why this gender gap should exist and that men could avoid health issues by simply being more health conscious. The research conducted by the National Cancer Intelligence Network showed men are far less likely to make significant lifestyle changes and are less likely to visit a doctor when cancer symptoms arise.

Chairman of the Men Health’s forum, Professor Alan White, also noted men usually ignore factors such as obesity, smoking, drinking, and having a poor diet as contributors to cancer risks. Professor White said men have to look to their lifestyles more seriously and take more responsibility but new research is needed in order to better understand the serious gender gap that exists when it comes to cancer mortality.

Professor Mike Richards, government’s cancer expert, acknowledged the gravity of the situation and urged all men to seek help and visit their doctors when health issues arise. Sara Hiom, member of Cancer Research UK, said more than half of the cancers can be prevented by certain lifestyle changes but men are more reluctant than women when it comes to visiting the doctor. This delay in reporting health issues to a doctor might be one of the main reasons why men are more likely to die of cancer than women are.

Selenium, a trace mineral, forms an essential component of our heart muscle and immune system. It can be found in animal protein, fish, vegetables and Brazilian nuts. It holds fort steadfastly against cancer, thyroid malfunction, infertility and arthritis. A chunk of this is attributable to its anti-oxidant properties. In fact, researchers also suggest that selenium possesses properties that metamorphose cancer genes.

Selenium occurs in the soil in natural form and thus it is easily absorbed by crops and altered into bioavailable variety for human use; barring the East Coast, US boasts of selenium-rich soil. Selenium is most useful to human body in its L-selenomethionine avatar. In contrariety, Selenite is not as easily absorbed by the body.

A 2003 study undertaken in France probed into the size of thyroid gland as compared to the consumption of selenium. Selenium level was found to be inversely proportional to the size of thyroid. A larger thyroid obviously brings home the threat of goiter. The research also concluded that selenium may reduce the risk of both goiter and other thyroid related diseases.

High selenium level in bloodstream, can also palliate the replication of HIV virus and the study came out with a startling revelation that those with low levels selenium were twenty times more likely to pass away with AIDS.

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) conducted a study that suggested a decrease by 50 percent in number of cancer deaths with the help of selenium supplement. The statistics included cancers of the lungs, prostate and colon.

A double blind, placebo-controlled cancer prevention trial, pertaining to random data was published in 1997. The study was undertaken in the University of Arizona. Over 1300 patients with basal cell cancer were provided with 200 mcg of selenium a day between the years 1983 to 1991. It was found that cancer mortality diminished significantly. Selenium group brought fourth a reduction of 28 deaths as compared to control group. Also incidences of cancer were significantly reduced – 77 in selenium group compare to 117 in the control group. There was not a single case of toxicity reported. This brought the researchers to a conclusion that supplementation of selenium could be an effective aid against various forms of cancer including lung, prostate and colon cancer, with skin cancer being an exception.