Category: Uncategorized

Photo: Flickr/Melissa Wiese  To work in the field of cancer prevention one has to be an optimist at heart.  In the science, in the statistics, and in the news, you see not only the broad burden of cancer but also the vast opportunities that exist to lower risk and prevent the disease. At the same […]

Photo: Flickr/Tim RT It’s been a big week in the news for alcohol and health. Three separate studies were released that helped shed light on a key issue we often discuss here at Cancer News in Context: the important impact that drinking has on cancer risk – particularly when started early in life. The first […]

Photo: Flickr/thomashawk It probably comes as no surprise, but mom was right: We really shouldn’t eat so fast. Apart from the noise and the mess and the ill-effects on dinner table conversation, wolfing down food may have ill-effects on health as well. A detailed new analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that […]

Photo: Flickr/whatshername A new study out this week further confirms the dangers of indoor tanning, finding that use of tanning beds and other UV tanning devices is strongly linked to developing skin cancer early in life. Published early online in the medical journal Pediatrics, the study compared the history of indoor tanning in a group […]

Photo: Flickr/abraj This week I had the privilege of addressing the American Cancer Society CEOs Against Cancer at their annual meeting that this year was held at Washington University in St. Louis. As a member of the panel addressing worksite wellness, I was able to briefly summarize the strong evidence that worksite wellness programs can […]

Photo: Flickr/DanielGo This post seems a bit cruel, coming out as it does during the current TV season’s finale week and the beginning of the World Cup.  But, science doesn’t rest – not even for Game of Thrones or the Brazilian national soccer team. So, neither do we. Just released on the Journal of the […]

Cancer News in Context‘s own Graham Colditz received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)–American Cancer Society Award today at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago (more info).  The award honors contributions to cancer prevention and control. In his associated lecture, Colditz will focus on the need to place a higher priority on prevention if […]

I had the privilege of presenting in this thematic area for the Shanghai Forum and addressed the priority for prevention. This contrasted with a preceding talk that advocated for greater emphasis on genomic testing to focus prevention activities within the Chinese population. Using diabetes and breast cancer examples I contrasted the time course of disease […]

An excerpt from the upcoming e-book: The 8IGHT WAYS Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer (Colditz and Dart) What is Risk? What is Prevention?  The word “risk” gets thrown around a lot these days.  And that’s actually a great thing, particularly when it comes to breast cancer.  By knowing your risk of breast cancer, and what […]

Photo: Flickr/ToastyTreat As we mentioned in a previous post on CNiC, an article in the New York Times last week called the link between diet and cancer risk, in essence, a “myth.”  In that post, we note that “the article’s conclusions [about the links between diet and cancer] demonstrate a lack of understanding of the science.”  To further make […]

Photo: Flickr/Mike65444 An article posted earlier this week on the New York Times website stated that the link between diet and cancer risk was, in essence, a “myth.”  And while links between diet and cancer are not as strong as those with some other chronic diseases, like heart disease, the article’s conclusions demonstrate a lack […]

Flickr/NatalieMaynor At the annual meeting of the American Society for Preventive Oncology, I had the privilege of presenting the evidence that supports the potential for health behaviors and vaccines to have a huge payoff for prevention of cancer throughout the world. My slides from that talk are now available. Questions that I addressed include the […]

Read the press release from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  With some exciting projects coming down the pike for our Zuum risk assessment app for iPad, it seemed a great time to re-introduce Zuum with a video demonstration of all that it does.  Its engaging interface and strong evidence base make it a unique addition to the field of mHealth offerings.  With just a […]

Read Dr. Colditz’s article on The Huffington Post: “Half of all cancers are preventable: Lower your risk with these eight steps.”

by Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH Much attention is being placed today on the global burden of cancer and the power for prevention to have an enormous benefit for the world through reducing cancer incidence, diagnosis, treatment, pain, and suffering. A reminder on numbers that have been around for some time – more than half […]

Earlier this month, we posted about recent findings linking nut consumption with a lower risk of benign breast disease in young women.  Further confirming the power of nuts, new results from a large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that men and women who are frequent nut eaters (7 or more […]

Obesity is a strong driver for postmenopausal breast cancer. Consistent data from around the world show that overweight and obese women are at increased risk of breast cancer through their postmenopausal years. It is estimated that obesity causes more than 10% of postmenopausal breast cancer. Mechanisms for this include higher circulating estrogen levels among overweight […]

The latest in the New York Times‘ Retro Report series tackles the launch and subsequent progress of the Nixon administration’s 1971 National Cancer Act, dubbed the “War on Cancer.”  The ultimate hope of the act was that – with an economic and human power push similar to that used with the first moon landing in […]

Validation of breast cancer risk prediction models in an independent prospective data set is rare. We drew on prospective data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the California Teachers Study to validate the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model and compare it to the Gail model.1 (see report) The Rosner-Colditz model includes a range of established […]

To assess variation in the role of reproductive risk factors in relation to risk for breast cancer among premenopausal women we examined the relationship comparing women less than age 40 with older premenopausal women. Drawing on Data from the Nurses’ Health Studies, Dr. Warner and colleagues documented 374 incident cases of breast cancer diagnosed before […]

Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among women. In the US it is estimated that 40,000 women will die from breast cancer in 2013. Just over 232,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Importantly, nearly a quarter of these new cases are diagnosed among women who are less than 50 […]

“Mental health affects people’s social and economic opportunities, and in turn, social and economic opportunity affects mental health,” says Darrell L. Hudson, PhD, assistant professor in the Brown School at Washington University about a study aimed at improving mental health in St. Louis. Washington University public health science researchers Bettina F. Drake, PhD, and Melody […]

Let’s follow up on our recent post showing adolescent diet high in vegetable protein or nuts was associated with reduced risk of premalignant breast lesions in young adult women. (see previous post: Peanuts and lower risk of breast cancer)  This generated much interest and the potential of peanut butter to be of such major health benefit […]

Media coverage today picked up on our paper published last week in breast cancer research and treatment (link). In that paper, we reported on the follow-up of women in the Growing Up Today’s Study. Over 9000 women were recruited to the study in 1996 when they were 9 to 15 years of age. The unique […]

Read the story here: “Study on health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis releases first policy brief”

Read the story here: “Program links researchers, community to improve public health”

Read the press release here: “School-age drinking increases breast cancer risk”

Hot off the presses this morning are two important health-related releases from the US Preventive Services Task Force and the Cochrane Library. From the USPSTF are updated recommendations that highlight effective approaches that primary care providers can use to prevent tobacco use in youth.  Because 90 percent of regular adult smokers begin smoking when they […]

Yesterday, we wrote about new lung cancer screening guidelines and the overarching health benefits of smoking cessation.  In a strange twist, there is news today out of Washington state that uninsured Washingtonians will now have their access to the state’s Tobacco Quitline drastically cut. Quitlines (1-800-QUIT-NOW) offer valuable resources to smokers who want to quit […]

Yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force released a draft report recommending that older heavy smokers be screened annually for lung cancer using low-dose CT scans.  These guidelines – which closely reflect recommendations released by the American Cancer Society in January and which we wrote about here – mark a major shift in views on screening […]

One thing is clear about New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, he doesn’t shy away from a good fight, especially if the health and well-being of citizens is at stake.  Whether it’s getting food establishments to post calorie counts, cut back on trans fats, or limit the size of sugary sodas, he and his administration […]

More than 15 yeas ago we showed conclusive evidence that obesity causes many chronic conditions in the US population1-3 -, that weight gain increases risk of diabetes 4-6, heart disease 7, breast cancer 8, and that this burden adds up quickly, even before we get to overweight, let alone obesity. In the New England Journal […]

Adding to the growing benefits linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that protects against cervical cancer, is a new study providing solid evidence that the vaccine will also likely help protect youth and young adults from developing throat cancers later in life. The study appeared in the journal PLoS One and was also written up in today’s New […]

Participation in therapeutic clinical trials rarely reflects the race and ethnic composition of the patient population. To meet National Institutes of Health-mandated goals, strategies to increase participation are required. We recently reported our work from Siteman Cancer Center and the Program for the Elimination of CancerDisparities to increase trial participation. Clinical trials are crucial to […]

Click to read Dr. Goodman’s op/ed in the St. Louis American. 

As we have noted previously, colorectal cancer is a leading preventable cause of cancer mortality. See related posts. Screening can be effective reducing deaths by half. Yet it is underutilized. Multi-level interventions addressing system changes and individual factors can effectively increasing screening. To date, most interventions have been implemented and evaluated in higher-resource settings such […]

A new report by our CNiC team summarizes the rapid changes in colorectal cancer screening in Massachusetts and more broadly through New England over 15 years from 1997 onwards. The move from scientific evidence to public health strategy hinged on a sustained strategy described by the collective impact approach where common goals, a shared measurement […]

We have previously pointed to the strong evidence that use of selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) substantially reduces risk of breast cancer. New updated data has been published in the British journal Lancet (May 25, 2013). The original data from all patients in a number of trials of these agents for prevention for breast cancer […]

A study published last month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showing that people regularly underestimate the amount of calories contained in fast food meals garnered a good deal of media attention (paper) and remains a “most read” listing on the BMJ.com site.  With good reason.  While moves are being made to prominently list the calorie […]

A study published last month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showing that people regularly underestimate the amount of calories contained in fast food meals garnered a good deal of media attention (paper) and remains a “most read” listing on the BMJ.com site.  With good reason.  While moves are being made to prominently list the calorie […]

Tracking the health news over the past few months, there’s been one very intriguing trend that has stood out to us here at CNiC:  Grand Visions.   Two examples of this that have huge implications for health are the push for eliminating extreme global poverty by 2030 and very serious discussions about moving toward an […]

In a time when school budgets are stressed and school performance is judged more and more on standardized test scores, it’s understandable that certain aspects of the school day that can seem less-critical get cut back or cut out altogether.  Student physical activity and physical education has been one of those things slowly reduced over the […]

As we wrote about earlier this spring, the new “TIPS from a former smoker” campaign from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gaining a lot of attention for its no-holds-barred effort to shock non-smokers into staying smoke-free and smokers into to quitting smoking – hopefully for good.   One primary thrust of […]

Ross Brownson, PhD, Brown School of Public Health faculty with a secondary appointment in the Division of Public Health Sciences, was recently featured in  The Record in an article called “From the mountains to Missouri, Brownson is an expert in chronic disease prevention.” 

Read more about the Photovoice project here.

In a recent post about our newest addition to the 8IGHT WAYS® series (8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Colon Cancer), we also highlighted the latest cancer awareness campaign coming out of the Siteman Cancer Center featuring St. Louis Cardinals player Matt Holliday and his mom, who was recently diagnosed with, and treated, for colon cancer.  The “Cancer […]

Australia is leading the world having implemented aggressive laws limiting tobacco advertising and packaging of cigarettes. These are reportedly some of the toughest restrictions to date. Publicly accessible images show the impact of the limited marketing. The Australian Department of Health and Aging web site shows package labels. Among the key elements of tobacco control […]

http://tinyurl.com/8WaysColon As part of the Siteman Cancer Center’s new colon cancer awareness campaign featuring St. Louis Cardinals player Matt Holliday and his mom who was recently diagnosed with the disease, we’ve just released the latest in the 8IGHT WAYS series:  8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Colon Cancer. The “Cancer Doesn’t Take a Holliday” campaign tells the compelling […]

A disturbing – but unfortunately unsurprising – story last week in the New York Times details the Wild West approach many online organizations take with people’s personal  health information. With flimsy or no consent, data brokers profile individuals based on web searches and other online activities and sell this information to groups interested in using […]