Cancer Info Today

By Dr Jenny Tylee

Cancer is the growth of abnormal cells. These changes cells grow and they can form into small tumors. The tumors can place pressure on nerves or blood vessels or they can interfere with the function of organs - such as obstructing the intestines.

Some cancers grow slowly and it can take years for them to become life threatening - however others can grow very rapidly. Cancers are named according to the type of tissue in which they occur - carcinomas, begin in the tissues of organs (these are the most common gastrointestinal cancers); lymphomas develop in the immune system, particularly in the lymph nodes; sarcomas start on the connective tissue such as muscle or bone.

Cancers can be throughout the digestive tract but the most common sites are the colon and rectum. Symptoms of cancers in the digestive tract include:

• blood in the stool

• difficulty in swallowing

• abdominal pain

• unexplained weight loss

• changes in bowel habits - not related to changes in diet.

You should have any of these symptoms checked by a health professional. If cancers are detected and treated early enough the prognosis is good.

Colorectal cancers begin with changes to the Continue Reading…

Popularity: 11% [?]

By Ainsley Laing

Is there a link between sugar consumption and cancer? Seventy years ago, Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of glucose as the fuel that grows cancer cells. In other words, sugar feeds cancer. Ok, this makes sense. All of our body’s tissues use glucose for fuel.

First, some boring stuff. A few new studies have followed along these lines and have associated sugar consumption with several types of cancer:

A study done on women in Mexico linked high carbohydrate diets with breast cancer. The same link was made by a study done on American women.

A small study at University of Southern California identified a significant increase in risk for small bowel cancer in people who consumed the most sugar in coffee, tea and non-diet sodas. (Not the purpose of the study. It was chance finding).

A Harvard School of Public Health study demonstrated that a diet high in simple carbohydrate foods such as white rice, white bread and white potatoes increased risk of pancreatic cancer in overweight and sedentary women. Besides cigarette smoking, this is the first risk factor identified with pancreatic cancer. Colorectal cancer risk has been linked to higher insulin levels, as well.

This pancreatic cancer study findings make sense. The pancreas produces insulin – the hormone that helps the body utilize blood glucose. Overweight people tend to be “insulin resistant”. This means the pancreas works harder producing more insulin. It’s a vicious cycle. Here’s some food for thought. Cancer rates have increased over the last 100 years or so. Mostly, this is attributed to increased cigarette smoking (there’s no arguing that this is the single most risk factor for many types of cancers, not only lung), and arguably the presence of more industrial chemicals and pollution.

Let’s look at the consumption of sugar over the same period. In 1815, the average per capita consumption of sugar in Great Britain was 15 pounds per year. By 1974, the consumption had risen to 120 pounds per year. Holy cow – that’s a lot of desserts!

Nowadays, in the US, the average per person yearly amount is 150 pounds per year. This is NOT including Continue Reading…

Popularity: 9% [?]

By Nathalie Fiset

What Is Mesothelioma and How is it Contracted?

Mesothelomia is a rare form of lung cancer contracted from breathing in or ingesting asbestos fibers. The common source of mesothelioma is from industrial sites where the workers are subject to exposure to mesothelioma. There are several factors that make this disease dangerous.

One is that the symptoms of mesothelioma are fairly common and almost indistinguishable from regular lung, cardiac, or digestive disorders, and are thus often misdiagnosed.

Another problem with mesothelioma is that the symptoms don’t immediately manifest upon inhalation or ingestion of the asbestos fibers. They take anything from 20 to 50 years before becoming apparent, and even then the only way to distinguish them from the symptoms of other, less dangerous disorders is to conduct an x ray.

Aside from direct exposure to asbestos, the fibers can also be carried upon the clothes of people working around asbestos, so that anyone they come in contact with can also accidentally breath in the fibers once they become airborne.

What Are the Symptoms and Effects of Mesothelioma?

The most common symptoms of mesothelioma that hits the Continue Reading…

Popularity: 20% [?]