cancer

Eggs are in the news again. Is it good news this time or bad news?

Well--it's both. Yet again, eggs are confusing us all by being nutritious, but associated with certain health risks.

According to recent studies, the news looks good if you're a woman trying to avoid breast cancer; not quite so good if you're a middle aged man who eats more than one a day.

Cancer is evil. It takes lives and destroys families. We can't cure it and we struggle to fully identify exactly what causes it.

Recent health reporting has been filled with the results of a large cancer study (the WCRF) that links a large array of lifestyle factors with various cancers.

The report concluded that over a third of cancers could be attributable to diet. Obesity features heavily too (forgive the pun). "Obesity is now 'approaching smoking as a cancer risk.'" claims Walter Willett.

A new Australian study has found that obese people are "six times more likely to develop esophageal cancer than people with healthy weight."

The researchers looked at 800 people with esophageal cancer and compared them to 1600 people who did not suffer from the disease.

Even when the researchers ruled out contributing factors to esophageal cancer such as heavy drinking and smoking, obesity was still found to be a major contributing factor for esophageal cancer risk.

A newly released study has proposed a combined benefit of exercise and caffeine consumption in the prevention of skin cancer.

A selection of news and not-news for all health-minded individuals.

There is no link between artificial sweetener aspartame and cancer - according to a new study. This large study involved data from surveys filled out 10 years ago detailing food and beverage consumption. This was then measured against those people that developed blood-related cancers. No link to aspartame consumption was found.

Bewilderment and confusion strikes again. The NY Times reports that a low-fat diet has no effect on reducing cancer and heart disease risk. The study is the largest ever conducted (49,000 women followed for 8 years). The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.