When most of the population is asked about “prevention” of breast cancer, mammography comes to mind. Few things get me as frustrated as this reply. I remember volunteering at a national 3-day event. I was treating an 18 yr old walker and asked why she was walking. Her mother had passed away from breast cancer at a very young ago, so I naturally asked her what she was doing from a preventative standpoint to lower her risk. She replied “They won’t let me do anything until I’m at least 40.” It was all I could do to keep from screaming in frustration.

So, we put all our eggs in the “early detection” basket and call it prevention. Well, unfortunately for this approach, there is much controversy about whether it actually does any good. Here we see a study finding that there are significant harms, suggesting that up to 22% of the cancers found on mammography may have spontaneous remitted, leading to aggressive, damaging treatments that were never needed.

Read entire article here

Ok. So we hear time and time again that fruits and veggies are good for cancer prevention. Unfortunately, I don’t think we quite get the message of just how darn strong the protection can be.

In this study of smokers, of all people, higher intake of compounds found in tea, cabbage, fruits and wine led to a whopping 41% reduction in risk for pancreatic cancer. Given how devastating this cancer is, anything someone can do to reduce risk should be taken very, very seriously.

Read entire article here

Here we go again. Hate to sound like a broken record, but in this study of men with prostate cancer to be removed with surgery, they started them on intakes of flaxseed 30 days before any procedures and found that his helped to reduce the activity of the cancer cells–a strong indication that this could lower risk and improve treatment outcomes.

Read entire article here

Regular readers of Updates know how strongly I am against infertility treatment in all but a few cases. Almost all cases of infertility can be managed with aggressive, safe lifestyle changes. If a couple (yes–you men are to blame as well because YOUR health plays a role in fertility as well) is NOT willing to make the hard decisions to clean up their lifestyles to have a healthy child the way Mother Nature intended, maybe, just maybe…they’re not ready.

Hard statements, but looking at the health risks these babies have (prematurity, increased rates of CVD and diabetes….) it needs to be said. Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, we see some pretty massive increases in the rates of breast cancer in these women treated with clomid to force fertility. Breast cancer is already likely in this group, since being pre-diabetic is a strong cause of infertility. Use of fertility agents led to a double or tripling of the risk for breast cancer.

Read entire article here

AGAIN…lifestyle including a diet high in both Vitamin A and beta carotene in women with breast cancer can lead to a massive improvement in prognosis–those with the lowest levels had double the risk of mortality (all women) or a 3.58 times the risk of mortality (those over 55).

Read entire article here

Ok, so the TZDs for diabetes (i.e. Avandia, Actose) have been giving a black box warning for causing heart disease (the number one cause of death in diabetics, I might add). So let’s use the sulfonylureas, right? Well, they’re known to actually damage the beta cells of the pancreas–the very cells we want to protect!!. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, here we see more than a doubling of risk of heart disease with some of the older drugs in this class. Man…if I was an endocrinologist that really wanted to help my patients–I’d burn the prescription pad and open a gym.

Read entire article here

Hate to sound like a broken record, but if ANYONE out there thinks that cancer risk is in our genes and we have no control over it….that absolutely, positively, without a doubt flies in the face of hundreds of studies confirming a large degree of control over our risk of cancer and the outcomes of cancer diagnosis.

In this particular study, we found higher levels of melatonin (a hormone produces deep in the brain to help settle us into sleep when the sun goes down) led to a 38% reduced risk of breast cancer. That means that good daylight sun exposure and getting your body to sleep WITHOUT the use of drugs, as well as NOT working a graveyard shift can all help avoid breast cancer.

Read entire article here

For those of you doing the math, in just these few studies we’ve pretty much wiped breast cancer risk off the face of the planet with just a small handful of the hundreds of known lifestyle factors that influence breast cancer risk. Here tea led to a 37% reduced risk of breast cancer in younger women drinking 3 or more cups per day. Consider this–everyone seems to have this idea that we need to lug a plastic BPA laden bottle of water around with us everywhere we go because we’ve been told by “them” that it’s good for us.

Good luck finding any studies to support this concept. What we DO find is studies linking the BPA in plastic water bottles to diabetes, cancer and birth defects. Switch to tea. Period.

Read entire article here

Drinking Green Tea Modestly Reduces Breast Cancer Risk.

Did I specify “green?”

Read entire article here

No we move to that most dangerous of substances–soy. At least that’s what you’d think if you read the first 20 pages listed on any internet search for “soy.” Unfortunately, the research finds quite the opposite.

In this particular study there was a 33% reduction in the risk of colon cancer with the highest intakes. Hardly the demonic food some of those websites make it out to be.

Read entire article here

Again speaking to the disconnect between research and clinical practice, I have had more than my fair share of patients presenting with autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism that have gone to drastic lengths to manage their condition. Radioactive destruction, surgery, lifetime medication use. I do not believe I have had a single one alerted to the strong association between celiac disease and thyroid problems.

So, not only do we destroy a rather important gland in the process, we miss the opportunity to guide the patient in avoiding a condition that will shorten their lives, because untreated celiac disease increases all cause mortality. The problem is it that this link has been known in the medical literature for at least a decade.

Read entire article here