Widespread Ignorance About Key Messages Concerning Diet And Cancer

New research on public perceptions about cancer reveals that 50-year-old ideas still hold sway while many current lifestyle messages are not getting through.

On the positive side, however, the vast majority of people now believe cancer is curable.

Experts at the University of Leicester and Leicester's Hospitals carried out the research to assess patients' beliefs about the causes of cancer, which was funded by the Leicestershire-based charity Hope Against Cancer.

The study, published online in the journal Clinical Oncology, aimed to compare knowledge about the outcome of cancer treatment and beliefs about the causes of cancer among British South Asian cancer patients and beliefs held by British White cancer patients and the impact of these beliefs upon the patients' mental health.

Between September 2007 and January 2010, 279 patients, who were aware they had cancer, entered the study, funded by Leicestershire-based charity Hope Against Cancer, at the Leicestershire Cancer Centre. Researchers found that:

• Across both groups there was an over emphasis on pollution, stress and injury as causes of cancer
• Almost one quarter of the group believed cancer was caused by injury, reflecting research carried out over half a century ago
• 20% believed that surgery could cause cancer to spread
• Both cohorts believed religion/fate played a part in cancer
• 30% of the group gave credence to alternative medicine being as effective as current clinical procedures
• It was generally accepted that smoking can cause cancer
• There was widespread lack of awareness about the roles diet, obesity and lack of exercise play in the development of the disease.

The vast majority believed cancer to be curable, with only 10.6% of the British South Asian group and 2.7% of the British White group thinking it was incurable. Out of the total sample, 93% understood the advantages of early screening.

Many of the two groups' assumptions about cancer were held in common. There was widespread over-emphasis on environmental pollution, stress and injury as triggers for cancer. Environmental pollution is a relatively minor cause of cancer, while there is no evidence that stress or injury can cause cancer.

Twenty per cent of the sample believed wrongly that treatment, in particular surgery, caused the cancer to spread and this was a cause of significant depression among British South Asians and anxiety across both groups.

The perceived role of religion in the cause of and recovery from cancer was more prevalent among the British South Asians, though a small cohort of the British White patients had some belief in Fate.

Nearly 30% of the total sample thought alternative treatments could be as effective as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This view was held by almost twice as many British South Asian patients as British White patients.

The way patients understand cancer can have a major impact on how they cope with it psychologically. This study is part of a wider investigation with the long-term aim of improving psychological support of cancer patients.

Professor Paul Symonds, of the Department for Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine at the University of Leicester, commented: "It is clear that there is a continual need for education into the causes of cancer. The good news is that the majority of the sample believed that cancer was curable and screening effective, while 84% appreciated that smoking could cause cancer.

"This shows that some messages are getting through, but we clearly have more work to do in educating the public on the effect of diet and obesity."

Karen Lord, PhD research student working on the project, said: "It is vital that those diagnosed with cancer have accurate information about treatment options so that they can make informed decisions about their care.

"Myths such as the belief that surgery causes cancer to spread and that alternative treatment is as effective as conventional treatments should be challenged."

Wendi Stevens, Hope Against Cancer Co-ordinator, added: "This research has highlighted some interesting views relating to cancer. Hope Against Cancer funds a wide range of research looking into treatment, but we believe it is also important to look at cause and education as well in the hope that this knowledge can be used to cut the incidence of cancer in the future."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/235134.php

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Slideshow: Fat-Fighting Foods

http://www.webmd.com/diet/slideshow-fat-fighting-foods?ecd=soc_fb_091611_9AM_ssbellyfat

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Sleep Disorders Affect 40 Percent Of Canadians

Sleep disorders affect 40% of adult Canadians according to a study conducted by Universite Laval researchers under the supervision of Dr. Charles M. Morin. The work of Dr. Morin and his colleagues will be presented at the 4th World Congress on Sleep Medicine which runs September 10-14 in Quebec City, Canada.

Dr. Morin's team surveyed a sample of 2,000 people across the country to draw a portrait of Canadians' sleep quality.

Their data revealed that 40% of respondents had experienced one or more symptoms of insomnia at least three times a week in the preceding month, i.e., taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, being awake for periods longer than 30 minutes during the night, or waking up at least 30 minutes before they had planned. Moreover, 20% of the participants said they were unsatisfied with the quality of their sleep, and 13.4% of respondents displayed all the symptoms required to diagnose insomnia.

Although many respondents experienced at least one symptom of insomnia, only 13% said they had consulted a healthcare professional about it. The survey data revealed that Canadians use prescription medicine (10%), natural products (9%), over-the-counter drugs (7%), or alcohol (5%) to treat their sleep problems.

Surprisingly, the researchers observed that 9.5% of French speakers suffered from insomnia compared to 14.3% of English speakers. However, French speakers take more prescribed sedatives (13% vs. 9%) and natural products (16% vs. 7%) than English-speaking Canadians.

"Many people who suffer from insomnia try to treat the problem themselves rather than consulting a healthcare professional," said Dr. Morin, a professor and researcher at Université Laval's School of Psychology. "This is not a good idea because we don't know the risks and benefits of products that have not been approved by government health agencies," he explained.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/234170.php

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Wide Waists Trim Lifespan For Women

Ever since the mid-1970s when Harvard initiated what is now known as "The Nurses Study" we've been told that white women with waists over 40 inches, raised their risk of early death by 40% vs. their slimmer sisters who maintained waists in the 26 to 27 inch measure.

However, significant new data just published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Sept. 8) lead by Dr. Julie Palmer, shows that black women are equally at risk.

"There is really no surprise here. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and the countless other deadly ills directly related to obesity are color-blind. For the record, they are sex-blind as well," say boomer generation health experts Dian Griesel, Ph.D. and Tom Griesel and authors of the new book, TurboCharged: Accelerate Your Fat Burning Metabolism, Get Lean Fast and Leave Diet and Exercise Rules in the Dust (April 2011, BSH).

Pounds add up. Studies are showing that obesity is starting earlier than ever. Our children ages 12-18 are reported as 18% being obese and baby boomers the 81 million born between 1946-1964-are polled at a whopping 66%+ being either obese or overweight.

"Obesity is a medical time bomb. It threatens our lives, livelihoods, financial stability, families and our society at large," say the Griesels. "A look around tells us that the status quo of dieting is simply not working. Apparently, we all still believe we need to clear our plate which wouldn't be a bad idea if it was filled with fruits and vegetables, which sadly, too often is not the case."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/234356.php

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An Apple or Pear a Day May Keep Strokes Away

Apples and pears may keep strokes away.

That's the conclusion of a Dutch study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association in which researchers found that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables with white flesh may protect against stroke.

While previous studies have linked high consumption of fruits and vegetables with lower stroke risk, the researchers' prospective work is the first to examine associations of fruits and vegetable color groups with stroke.

The color of the edible portion of fruits and vegetables reflects the presence of beneficial phytochemicals such as carotenoids and flavonoids.

Researchers examined the link between fruits and vegetable color group consumption with 10-year stroke incidence in a population-based study of 20,069 adults, with an average age of 41. The participants were free of cardiovascular diseases at the start of the study and completed a 178-item food frequency questionnaire for the previous year.

Fruits and vegetables were classified in four color groups:

• Green, including dark leafy vegetables, cabbages and lettuces
• Orange/Yellow, which were mostly citrus fruits
• Red/Purple, which were mostly red vegetables
• White, of which 55 percent were apples and pears

During 10 years of follow-up, 233 strokes were documented. Green, orange/yellow and red/purple fruits and vegetables weren't related to stroke. However, the risk of stroke incidence was 52 percent lower for people with a high intake of white fruits and vegetables compared to people with a low intake.

Each 25 gram per day increase in white fruits and vegetable consumption was associated with a 9 percent lower risk of stroke. An average apple is 120 grams.

"To prevent stroke, it may be useful to consume considerable amounts of white fruits and vegetables," said Linda M. Oude Griep, M.Sc., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in human nutrition at Wageningen Uninversity in the Netherlands. "For example, eating one apple a day is an easy way to increase white fruits and vegetable intake.

"However, other fruits and vegetable color groups may protect against other chronic diseases. Therefore, it remains of importance to consume a lot of fruits and vegetables."

Apples and pears are high in dietary fiber and a flavonoid called quercetin. In the study, other foods in the white category were bananas, cauliflower, chicory and cucumber.

Potatoes were classified as a starch.

Previous research on the preventive health benefits of fruits and vegetables focused on the food's unique nutritional value and characteristics, such as the edible part of the plant, color, botanical family and its ability to provide antioxidants.

U.S. federal dietary guidelines include using color to assign nutritional value. The U.S. Preventive Health Services Taskforce recommends selecting each day vegetables from five subgroups: dark green, red/orange, legume, starchy and other vegetables.

Before the results are adopted into everyday practice, the findings should be confirmed through additional research, Oude Griep said. "It may be too early for physicians to advise patients to change their dietary habits based on these initial findings," she said.

An accompanying editorial notes that the finding should be interpreted with caution because food frequency questionnaires may not be reliable.

In addition, "the observed reduction in stroke risk might further be due to a generally healthier lifestyle of individuals consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables," writes Heike Wersching, M.D., M.Sc., of Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of Münster, in Germany.
Study co-authors are: W.M. Monique Verschuren, Ph.D.; Daan Kromhout, M.P.H., Ph.D.; Marga C. Ocké, Ph.D.; and Johanna M. Geleijnse, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110915163523.htm

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More Evidence That Spicing Up Broccoli Boosts Its Cancer-Fighting Power

Teaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new University of Illinois study.

"To get this effect, spice up your broccoli with broccoli sprouts, mustard, horseradish, or wasabi. The spicier, the better; that means it's being effective," said Elizabeth Jeffery, a U of I professor of nutrition.

In the study, when fresh broccoli sprouts were eaten with broccoli powder, the scientists were able to measure bioactive compounds in the blood 30 minutes later. When these peaked at three hours, they were much higher when the foods were eaten together than when either was eaten alone. Urine samples corroborated the blood results, said Jenna Cramer, lead author of the study.

It's no secret that many people cook the benefits right out of broccoli instead of steaming it lightly for two to four minutes to protect its healthful properties, she said.

"However, this study shows that even if broccoli is overcooked, you can still boost its benefits by pairing it with another food that contains myrosinase," she said.

Myrosinase is the enzyme necessary to form sulforaphane, the vegetable's cancer-preventive component, co-author Margarita Teran-Garcia explained.

Note what happened with the fresh broccoli sprouts and broccoli powder eaten in this experiment. The powder doesn't contain myrosinase, but it does contain the precursor to the anti-cancer agent sulforaphane. Eaten together, the sprouts were able to lend their myrosinase to the powder. As predicted, both foods produced sulforaphane and provided greater anti-cancer benefit, Jeffery said.

Other foods that will boost broccoli's benefits if they are paired together include radishes, cabbage, arugula, watercress, and Brussels sprouts.

"Here's another benefit of protecting and enhancing the myrosinase in your foods," Jeffery said. "If myrosinase is present, sulforaphane is released in the ilium, the first part of your digestive system. Absorption happens well and quickly there, which is why we saw bioactivity in 30 minutes."

An earlier Jeffery study showed that microbiota are capable of releasing sulforaphane in the lower gut, but absorption happens more slowly in the colon than in the upper intestine, she said.

Scientists say that as little as three to five servings of broccoli a week provide a cancer-protective benefit.

"But it pays to spice it up for added benefits and find ways to make it appealing so you don't mind eating it if you're not a broccoli fan. I add fresh broccoli sprouts to sandwiches and add them as one of my pizza toppings after the pie is out of the oven," Cramer said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110913091559.htm

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New Data Tests the Exercise 'Talk Test'

New research by University of New Hampshire exercise scientists confirms that a low-tech, easy-to-administer test is an effective tool for gauging exercise intensity, but that it does not correspond as neatly as previously assumed to other more objective tests. In a study published recently in the Journal of Sports Sciences, UNH associate professor of kinesiology Timothy Quinn and his former graduate student Benjamin Coons put the so-called "Talk Test" to the test.

Quinn and Coons set out to learn just how good this test, gaining in popularity over the past decade, is, and how it compared to two other laboratory-tested measures of intensity, the lactate threshold and the ventilatory threshold.

The researchers administered the Talk Test to healthy adults, having them read the Pledge of Allegiance while exercising at different intensities and rating how comfortable they were speaking. They found that when participants reported a positive Talk Test -- that they could still speak comfortably -- they were exercising at the lower end of established exercise intensity guidelines as measured by both heart rate and maximal oxygen consumption, or VO2 max. When participants became uncertain that they could still speak comfortably, they were exercising at the upper end of intensity guidelines.

This finding confirmed the effectiveness of the Talk Test. "If you can still talk comfortably, you're exercising in a zone that's appropriate for improving fitness in individuals beginning an exercise program," Quinn says. "The Talk Test is a good tool, and it's easy to use."

More surprising, however, was how the Talk Test compared to the lactate threshold, the point at which muscles can no longer metabolize and remove lactic acid as it builds during exercise, and the ventilatory threshold, which is characterized by sudden heavy breathing. While previous research involving the Talk Test has used the ventilatory threshold as the comparator, this study was the first to compare both the lactate and ventilatory thresholds with the Talk Test. Data showed that the Talk Test related best to the lactate threshold as compared to the ventilatory threshold

"Everybody's thought that the Talk Test related well to the ventilatory threshold," Quinn says. "And it does, to a certain degree. But different physiological phenomena occur at each threshold, and it is the phenomena associated with the lactate threshold that relate better to the different levels of the Talk Test."

Quinn says these findings on the relationship of the Talk Test to the lactate threshold make the Talk Test relevant to endurance athletes as well as beginning exercisers. "In order to enhance endurance performance, some training has to occur around the lactate threshold intensity level. When subjects in the study had difficulty talking, they were very close to that lactate threshold intensity. Because of this, athletes could gauge their intensity based on ability to talk comfortably."

"If you are beginning an exercise program and can still talk while you're exercising, you're doing OK," Quinn says. "But if you really want to improve, you've got to push a little bit harder."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110913122050.htm

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