The quest to determine which prostate cancers need treatment

Image courtesy University of York

CANCER DIGEST – Oct. 20, 2018 – Researchers  from the University of York in the UK and the University of British Columbia, Canada say they can now determine with 92 percent accuracy which prostate cancers are life-threatening and which can be managed.

Prostate cancers are generally categorized as slow-growing or aggressive. Slow-growing cancers that remain within the prostate can be monitored, sometimes for years before treatment is needed, while aggressive cancers need to be treated quickly.

Stomach ulcer bacteria might also be linked to colorectal cancer

Electron micrograph of H. pylori - copy-
right free image from Wikipedia 

CANCER DIGEST – Oct. 13, 2018 – Could a round of antibiotics prevent colorectal cancer? That’s the intriguing question coming out a new Duke University study that links the bacterium H. pylori to an increased risk of of colorectal cancers. 


The study analyzed 4,000 colorectal cancer cases and found a significant correlation between colorectal cancer and those infected with a particularly virulent strain of H. pylori that is especially common among African Americans and Asians.

Obesity and vitamin D deficiency may boost breast cancer risk

CANCER DIGEST – Sept. 22, 2018 – A new study shows that vitamin D may reduce cancer risk as well as breast cancer mortality, especially in slender or average-weight women.

The study involving 600 Brazilian women showed that obese post menopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer had an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency compared to women of the same age group who did not have breast cancer. The study appears in the September issue of the journal Menopause.

Anti-inflammatory diet linked to lower risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases

CANCER DIGEST – Sept. 15, 2018 – Adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet was associated with lower risk of dying from cancer as well as cardiovascular causes, according to a new study in the Sept. 2018 Journal of Internal Medicine.

The results showed that the more closely the participants followed an anti-inflammatory diet the lower their risk of dying form cancer or cardiovascular causes.

“Our dose-response analysis showed that even partial adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet may provide a health benefit,” said lead author Dr. Joanna Kaluza, an associate professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, in Poland.

Test or not to test is the question facing men with regard to prostate cancer

Illustration courtesy of SonaCare

CANCER DIGEST – Sept. 8, 2018 – An international panel of clinical experts recommends against routine testing for prostate cancer. That recommendation followed an extensive review of the available research that they say shows little evidence that such screening reduces prostate cancer deaths. Their findings are published online ahead of the Sept. 5, 2018 British Medical Journal (BMJ).