Posts Tagged ‘tobacco’

For the majority of Americans, our access to health care is intimately linked to whether we have a job or not. Even though many of us have lost health insurance benefits, obtaining good health doesn’t have to cost a bundle.  M.D. Anderson, one of America’s top cancer centers, has released their top 5 list of low-cost tips to reduce your risk of cancer, four of which doesn’t involve stepping foot into the doctor’s office. ”If we eat healthier meals and increase daily exercise, we could avoid about one-third or 186,000 cancer deaths this year,” says Michele Forman, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology at M.D. Anderson. Here’s what made the list:

1. Exercise daily.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
3. Avoid tobacco.
4. Practice sun-safety.
5. Get regular check-ups.

See why these tips made the list and share your comments here.

Using global figures from 2004, researchers estimate that 1 in 25 deaths worldwide is related to alcohol consumption. This includes deaths from injuries, accidents and diseases like liver cirrhosis, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The highest percentage of deaths linked to alcohol were found in countries of the former Soviet Union where 1 in 7 die of an alcohol related cause. One of the countries with the lowest alcohol related mortality is India where about 95% of women and 80% of men abstain from drinking. Much of the focus of this research is to shed light on the parallels between alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking-they both cause high disease and economic burdens, especially on developing countries. The researchers are calling for an international effort in alcohol control, especially in emerging economies like China and Thailand where increasing industrialization and westernization is correlating with increasing alcohol consumption.

Read more and share your opinion here.

At this week’s American College of Gastroenterology annual scientific meeting, researchers presented data which supports that women require less exposure to tobacco in order to increase their risk of colorectal cancer. Heavy smokers were almost twice as likely to develop significant colorectal cancer than women who were not exposed to tobacco smoke. The researchers also found that smoking can raise the risk of pancreatic pre-cancerous growths, especially in people who have a strong family history of the pancreatic cancer. Read more. Share your opinion.

Stanford University researchers have successfully produced antibodies against a specific type of cancer called follicular B cell lymphoma. Antibodies are traditionally produced from animals, however, this was the first human study of an injectable vaccine produced by plants. Ironically, the antibodies were produced by tobacco plants. When injected into humans, these antibodies can trigger the immune system to target cancer cells that are specific to that patient’s tumor, thus allowing the body to better fight the cancer. The advantages of plant-produced antibodies include lower cost, faster production times, and individually tailored vaccines capable to targeting each patient’s specific cancer. More trials to evaluate this method is currently under way. Full story.