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by Hank Dart The course of the obesity epidemic in the United States has been so bad for so many years that even minor victories have been cause for celebration. But despite some bright spots in the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on national rates of obesity (on adults, on youth), […]

By Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH In the British journal, The Lancet, this week Dr. Karen Emmons and I comment on an analysis of health insurance, cancer mortality and the impact of the great recession 1. This note expands slightly on our comment and adds focus on the Vice-President’s Moonshot options to improve access to cancer […]

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared as a Health Beyond Barriers podcast on Minds Eye Radio. It was produced in English, Spanish, Bosnian, Vietnamese, and Arabic through a collaboration with LAMP, Language Access Metro Project. By Hank Dart Whole grains. For something so often recommended as part of a healthy diet, they can seem pretty […]

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by Katy Henke A new study sheds some light on strategies that may help smokers in under-researched communities take steps to quit. Recently, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis led a study that looked at the potential impact that graphic cigarette labels might have in sparking social interaction around smoking cessation in American Indian/Alaska […]

Since January of 2000, our website, Your Disease Risk, has reached millions of visitors with personalized risk estimates and prevention messages for the most important preventable chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and others. Based on feedback from both health professionals and the public, much of the appeal of the the Your Disease Risk […]

While the ultimate goal of the HPV vaccine is to prevent cancer, that benefit can feel very far off in the future, especially since vaccination ideally takes place in eleven and twelve-year-old girls and boys.  But studies looking at the five to six years after the vaccine was approved and became widely available show that […]

by Katy Henke Breast cancer is back in the headlines this week with the announcement by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (Missouri) that she has been diagnosed with the disease following a routine mammogram. Because such news coverage can raise questions about current breast cancer screening guidelines and the steps women can take to prevent the disease, […]

by Hank Dart Thirteen years ago, in an earlier incarnation of Cancer News in Context, we wrote our very first post about the potential of the HPV vaccine following the release of a promising study in the New England Journal of Medicine. That post – “A Shot in the Arm for Cervical Cancer Prevention” – […]

by Hank Dart We’ve written a great deal in CNiC over the years on the dangers of indoor tanning, with one primary theme being the allure it has to young people, especially teenage girls.  It even seems to border on an addiction of sorts, as some research suggests. With UV exposure in youth and young […]

by Hank Dart Though coverage of the Iowa caucuses has eclipsed most other media stories this week, there was still some important health news Monday about a large study finding that a high-fiber diet early in life may lower the risk of later adult breast cancer. The study, part of the long-running Nurses’ Health Study II, […]

by Hank Dart In a paper published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Cancer News in Context’s Graham Colditz and Washington University researcher, Kelle Moley, detail the important role that overweight and obesity play in the development of breast cancer. Looking at wide-ranging evidence at all periods of life — from gestation to the […]

It’s been another big year of cancer prevention news, and it started with a real splash way back in January with a headline-grabbing study in Science attributing most cases of cancer to simple “bad luck.” Not surprisingly, we disagreed with that conclusion, and our post responding to the study – and the stories it generated […]

by Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH Obesity is an established cause of postmenopausal breast cancer, with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimating that approximately 10 percent of postmenopausal breast cancer is due to excess weight (1). Overweight and obesity also increase the risk of mortality after diagnosis. One large analysis combining data from […]

by Katy Henke Family members share many things that can impact cancer risk: lifestyle choices, habits, physical environments and their genetic makeup. Of all of these, genetics can be particularly key. Because of this, it’s important to understand your family history of cancer and how it may impact your risk for the disease. Some types […]

by Hank Dart We’re in the middle of it now. The holiday season – that wonderful and stressful five-week stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year’s where at every turn, there seems to be food. And not just everyday food, but food of such amounts and enticing types that it can feel nearly impossible at times […]

Download Graham Colditz’s Grand Rounds presentation from Dec. 4, 2015. To view Graham Colditz’s faculty profile, please visit this website.

by Katy Henke Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States. The good news is that 75 percent of cases could be prevented with healthy lifestyle choices. These eight simple tips can help you lower your colon cancer risk and improve your overall health (PDF). For more information and prevention tips, […]

By Yikyung Park, ScDA recent report on red and processed meat and cancer risk, written by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO), sent shockwaves worldwide. After reviewing existing evidence, the report concluded that processed meat consumption is a cause of cancer and red meat consumption is probably […]

It’s the final day in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ If High Risk: Consider Risk-Reducing Medications Although not commonly thought of as a “healthy behavior,” taking prescription risk-reducing medications – such as, tamoxifen, raloxifene, and […]

It’s day eight in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ Day 8 – Find Out Your Family History Women with a strong family history of breast cancer can take special steps to protect themselves, so it’s […]

It’s day seven in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ Day 7 – Avoid Postmenopausal Hormones The issue still comes up in the news, and study results still get parsed and discussed, but in the end, […]

It’s day six in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ Day 6 – Avoid Birth Control Pills – Particularly After Age 35 or If You Smoke There’s no denying that birth control pills have been a […]

It’s day five in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ Day 5 – Breastfeed, If Possible Breastfeeding for a total of one year or more (combined for all children) lowers the risk of breast cancer. It […]

It’s day four in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days.    _ _ _ _ Day 4 – Don’t Smoke, and Avoid Other People’s Smoke, Too This really goes without saying: Don’t smoke, and avoid other people’s smoke, too.  Smokers and […]

It’s day three in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days. _ _ _ _ Day 3 – Avoid Too Much Alcohol Alcohol can be good for the heart, but when it comes to cancer, there is, unfortunately, nothing really […]

It’s day two in our nine day series highlighting key steps and practical tips that can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. Previous days.   _  _  _  _ Day 2 – Be Physically Active Exercise is as close to a silver bullet for overall good health as there is, and those benefits […]

We know. You’ve been awash in pink for the past three weeks.  So you’re forgiven if you’re a bit tired of reading about breast cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  But, we at Cancer News in Context hope to help you work past any late October doldrums by closing the month out with an engaging […]

by Katy Henke Breast cancer is one of the most well known cancers as well as the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide (1). In an effort to educate and prevent future breast cancer cases and deaths, online health assessment tools have been created to help women understand their risk for developing breast […]

When it comes to news stories about infections and cancer, HPV (human papillomavirus) has dominated the headlines the past few years.  For the most part, this has been great. HPV causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer and increases the risk of multiple other cancers.  And there is an effective vaccine to protect against HPV, […]

by Mary C Politi, PhD and Sydney Philpott More people in the United States die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer. Patients and providers want and need ways to find lung cancer early when it is more easily treated. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved yearly lung cancer […]

by Katy Henke In early September 2015, Vivek Murthy, MD, the Surgeon General of the United States, began a national campaign to increase the amount of physical activity Americans engage in each day (see video below).  The campaign, called Step It Up!, works not only to get Americans walking more but also to help facilitate […]

by Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH Article originally appeared in the Washington University – Institute for Public Health Blog When it comes to cancer, there are few topics as supercharged as diet. A quick search of “diet and cancer” in Google News alone returns over 3 million stories. And yet, however large these numbers are, they […]

In 2008, scandal struck the world of cancer screening.  A rare occurrence, to be sure. About two years after the release of a groundbreaking study showing that low-dose CT scans could catch lung cancer early and save lives in smokers, it was revealed that the study’s principal investigator had close ties to the tobacco industry. […]

[If you are viewing the mobile version of this post on a desktop, click here for desktop version.] A large proportion of colon cancer is preventable with healthy lifestyle choices, even without taking into account the benefits of screening.  That’s the finding in a new analysis from the large Nurses’ Health Study released in print […]

bPhoto: Melissa P by Hank Dart A federal report released at the end of July shows promising trends in rates of HPV vaccination in United States adolescents, but rates varied greatly between certain regions and left much room for improvement overall, especially for boys. The recommended schedule for HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination, which protects against […]

Results from a large analysis released yesterday further confirm that getting even small amounts of physical activity is better than getting none if your goal is to live longer. In the new paper, which combined results from nine cohort studies, researchers focussed on the possible mortality benefits of varying levels of physical activity in people […]

by Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR/L, MSCI, MPA The Siteman Cancer Center Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) hosted a Community Health Education Day in East St. Louis, Illinois on July 11, 2015. Partnering with the East Side Health District and other community organizations, community health workers, citizens, and cancer survivors came together to […]

In blunt terms: we’re larger than we’ve ever been.  That’s the essential conclusion of new research published online yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine by CNiC’s Dr. Graham Colditz and Dr. Lin Yang.  In the analysis, which looked at a nationally representative sample of Americans from 2007 – 2012, the authors found that 75 percent of […]

After posting a handful of excerpts over the past year, we’re excited to announce the official launch this week of the e-book: TOGETHER – Every Woman’s Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer. Written by CNiC’s Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH and Hank Dart, MS, along with noted Washington University School of Medicine researcher Katherine Weilbaecher, MD, TOGETHER takes a […]