Department of Surgery
The holidays are here, and that means a calendar filled with family, friends and festivities. And as wonderful as that can be, it can also make it challenging to stick to the regular routines that help keep us healthy. To help you have the physical and mental freshness to fully enjoy the season, try […]
Stop. Read this. Now read this slowly. S l o w l y. Now take a slow deep breath in and count “one.” Take a slow breath out and count “two.” Now repeat that three times. S l o w l y. You’ve just had a mindful moment. It’s a real rarity in today’s busy, […]
A new federal analysis shows that the adult obesity epidemic in the United States keeps on getting worse. Between 2007 and 2016, the percentage of the adult population that was obese increased from an already very high 33.7 percent to a staggering 39.6 percent. And the rate of those severely obese increased from just under […]
by Hank Dart In my many years of writing about and promoting healthy behaviors, I’m happy to say that I’ve at least tried to put into practice just about everything I’ve espoused. Of course, like many people, my success at doing so can be uneven. Some behaviors I do pretty well with – like exercise, […]
At today’s annual symposium of the Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center (BNORC), CNiC’s Dr. Graham Colditz delivered a plenary session talk reviewing BNOCR’s 25-year contribution to the science on obesity and cancer. A past associate director of the Center, Colditz also paid tribute to groundbreaking nutrition researcher, George Blackburn, who passed away in February 2017 […]
A “normal” weight – with BMI between 22.5 and 24.9 – was linked to lowest risk by Hank Dart It turns out that a healthy weight is a healthy weight. That’s the essential conclusion of a large and well-designed new study looking at long term weight and its relation to premature death. What makes this […]
An editorial published in today’s British Medical Journal (BMJ) by Cancer News in Context’s Yikung Park and Graham Colditz makes the strong case that it’s time to take action to combat weight-related cancers. The editorial addresses a new “umbrella review,” also published in the BMJ today, that found strong evidence that overweight and obesity increases the risk of 11 […]
A new report from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) shows that a large percentage of the United States population remains confused about which lifestyle factors increase the risk of cancer and which do not. While a large majority of the public knows that smoking and sun exposure increase cancer risk, only 50 percent […]
It’s not news that parents can sometimes have blinders on when it comes to their kids. It’s only natural that we look for all the positives in our children and downplay any possible negatives. And this is just what seems to be happening with parents and the loaded issue of their child’s weight. Parents of […]
A new international report released today further highlights the important role that overweight and obesity play in the development of cancer. Produced by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and released in the New England Journal of Medicine, the report, Body Fatness and Cancer — Viewpoint of the IARC Working Group, finds that […]
Although keeping weight in check can be a tall order in this day of dollar menus and smartphones, it’s well worth the effort. The cancer benefits alone are huge. When the impact on heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, and good old-fashioned quality of life are added, the benefits become enormous. Try these simple steps: Exercise, […]
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 Katy Henke When it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle, let’s just say that Americans have a lot of room for improvement. That’s according to a recent study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings that found that only 2.7 percent of U.S. adults practice four key behaviors that can improve health and lower the risk […]
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 […]
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 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, […]
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 […]
[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 […]
Creative Commons photo (cropped): Flickr/zingersbs by Hank Dart A new study released last week in the journal Human Reproduction has found that regularly drinking sugar-sweetened beverages – like sodas and fruit drinks – may cause girls to start their menstrual periods at earlier ages. The study, a spin off of the long-running Nurses’ Health […]
By Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH It is time to bring our focus back to lowering the risk or reducing the onset of new cases of breast cancer at all ages. Worldwide incidence of the disease is rising as societies across the globe modernize, which brings with it higher rates of breast cancer risk factors, […]
Photo: Flickr/Kizette The subjects of weight gain, the obesity epidemic, and their major impact on health are brought up so much these days that they’re easy to tune out. So, if a few articles and news reports here and there pass you by – on accident or on purpose – we understand. But we won’t […]
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/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 […]
Tara Parker-Pope wrote an interesting post yesterday on the New York Times’ Thanksgiving Help Line about the commonly thrown around stat that the average person consumes 4500 calories in the course of Thanksgiving Day. In the piece, she works at length itemizing what 4500 calories would actually look like – choosing many fat and sugar-laden […]
Ask women what they think is the biggest threat to their health, and most will answer “breast cancer.” And even though lung cancer and heart disease kill more women each year, their concern is well placed. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the US — about 230,000 American women are diagnosed […]
In what in many ways is a definitive study on the topic, a very large analysis of 1.46 million adults further confirms that overweight and obesity significantly increase the risk of mortality (study). The analysis by Berrington de Gonzalez and colleagues, which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine today, pooled together data from […]
As anyone who’s ever been on a diet knows: taking the pounds off can be hard, but keeping the pounds off can be even harder. The main reason for this simply seems to be that it’s just easier to keep up with a new exercise and diet program over the short term than it is […]
That obesity had deleterious health consequences isn’t news, especially around here. Yet, we still find the results of a study out of Australia, published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention this week on weight gain and colon cancer risk compelling. Most adults experience weight gain over the course of their lives and this weight gain, […]
Last week new data were released adding to the evidence on the harmful effects of hormone therapy on breast cancer incidence and mortality (story). This timely report released in October when so much media attention focuses on breast cancer detection, treatment and prevention, brings further evidence to show how hormones cause breast cancer. Here I […]
Breast cancer prevention means taking action now. We talked about awareness earlier this week and have discussed drug strategies to reduce risk of breast cancer in high risk or postmenopausal women. But for every woman there are things to do now to lower risk. be active – increase your level of physical activity maintain a […]
There is a fascinating little study out this week in the journal Appetite, which was also highlighted in a piece in The Economist. What the study found was that dieters, when they felt they were given a larger piece of pizza than other people were for lunch (pieces were actually the same), were more likely […]
While lifestyle contributes substantially more to risk of cancer (and other chronic diseases) than genetics alone, the interplay between genetics and lifestyle is a subject of increasing interest. That’s what makes a new study out of the UK, published in PLoS Medicine so exciting. The researchers took 12 genetic mutations that had previously been found […]
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported yesterday (see full report) that 1 in 5 hospitalizations in 2008 involved a person with diabetes. This amounted to 7.7 million hospital stays at a cost of $83 billion in just the hospital costs. Diabetics had hospital stays that were longer, on average, and more likely to […]
There was a very nice piece this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition building on a study released earlier this month that found that being persistently overweight from young adulthood on can have a profoundly negative social and economic impact on individuals – this in addition to the already well-documented health effects of overweight and obesity (NPR story) […]
As national trends have shown us all too clearly, keeping weight in check can be a difficult journey for many of us, and a lonely one at that. Success or failure when it comes to our weight is often pinned to us as individuals. Yet, individual actions are just the culmination of a broader web […]
Last week we commented on the data from the Nurses’ Health Study II showing that bike riding could reduce weight gain in premenopausal women. This is just one of many strategies available to women to increase exercise or physical activity, control their weight, and reduce their risk of breast cancer. Why do we focus on physical […]
With the release this week of the ACS report on Diabetes and Cancer risk, we return to the growing cancer burden caused by obesity and excess weight gain during adult years. We might approach this problem from several angles. First, which cancers are caused by obesity and second, by focusing on diabetes, we might ask […]
The headlines this week about fruits and vegetables doing little, if anything, to lower cancer risk may entice you to reach for a candy bar rather than a carrot (study), but there’s still plenty of good reasons to keep working on your 5 or more each day. Most importantly, there’s still very good evidence that eating […]
Obesity is increasing at epidemic rates around the world (International Agency for Research on Cancer 2002). Within the US, the epidemic is clearly shown spreading across the country (see map). United States, data from 2003-2004 report that 66 percent of adults are overweight or obese (BMI ≥25) and 32 per cent of adults are obese […]