Link between obesity and breast cancer may be fatty acids in blood

CANCER DIGEST – Mar. 16, 2019 – Free fatty acids in the blood may stimulate growth of breast cancer cells, which would explain the link between obesity and higher risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, say researchers.

Two older drugs may offer alternative to triple-negative breast cancer

Metformin and heme both target processes that take
place in the mitochondria – image courtesy U Chicago

CANCER DIGEST – March 9, 2019 – Modern breast cancer therapy most often involves treatment with newer drugs that target three specific protein receptors progesterone, estrogen and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 or HER2.

Breath test for cancer gets underway in the UK

Photo credit: Owlstone Medical

CANCER DIGEST – Feb. 16, 2019 – Researchers in the United Kingdom have launched a clinical trial that will test a breath analyzer to see if it might be useful in detecting cancer.

Led by Rebecca Fitzgerald, a researcher at the MRC Cancer Center at Cambridge University designed the study that aims to make a simple breath test that can identify patients with an early cancer.

Could TV watching boost your risk of colorectal cancer?

Image via Wikimedia used under Creative Commons 

CANCER DIGEST – Feb. 10, 2019 – Colorectal cancer is on the rise in people under 50 years old and researchers have found a possible link. People who spend more than two hours a day watching TV have been found to have a 70 percent increase in the risk of colorectal cancer.

Older women who often eat fried food have higher risk of dying

Image by [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 26, 2019 – Put down that bucket of fried chicken! A new study of postmenopausal women has found that regularly eating fried food is linked with a higher risk of death from any cause, and heart-related death in particular.

The study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) this week used a questionnaire to assess the diets of 106,966 women aged 50-79.