Tackling popular news stories related to cancer prevention and screening, Cancer News in Context tames the hype with a big-picture outlook and important take home messages.
Getting Started with Mindful Weight Loss
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, smartphone-obsessed […]
10 Easy Ways to Be More Active on This ‘World Physical Activity Day’
It’s World Physical Activity Day – a great reminder that there really is nothing quite like regular activity when it comes to both individual and population health. Among other benefits, physical activity helps prevent many serious diseases – from stroke to diabetes to cancer – and also improves quality of life and boosts mental mood. […]
Spring Ahead: 5 Reasons Spring is a Great Time to Work on Your Health Goals
On top of all the other wonderful things about spring, it can also be a great time to work on improving your health. Don’t groan. While working on your health goals may not be as fun as watching spring training or walking through a blossom-filled park, your health is important. Very important. And not only […]
Short Take: Calories Matter in Weight Loss, Despite Some Recent Headlines
A recently published clinical trial out of Stanford University found that high-quality low-fat and high-quality low-carbohydrate diets could be equally effective for weight loss.It was a positive finding from a well-designed study.Many news headlines about the study, however, focused on something else entirely: that calories don't matter for weight loss. Some examples:The problem is: The […]
New Diet Study Finds “Ultra-Processed” Foods May Be Linked to Cancer Risk
by Hank DartA new study out of France highlights another possible reason to avoid eating too many highly processed foods: They may increase the risk of cancer.The paper, published yesterday in the British Medical Journal, followed close to 105,000 adults for an average of 5 years. Along the way, participants were asked to regularly report their […]
In Practice: What I Learned from Weighing Myself (Almost) Every Day
by Hank DartIn 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, olive […]
Protect Your Children with the HPV Vaccine
by Dr. Lindsay KurokiParents grow up wanting their kids to be healthy and happy. And taking control of your child’s health may be easier than you think with evolving research. We know that with healthy eating, encouraging exercise, staying safe in the sun, and getting scheduled vaccinations your child is on the right path to […]
Room for Improvement: Rates of Cancer Risk Factors in Young Adults
As we've written about before on Cancer News in Context, good evidence points to the important role that behaviors in youth and young adulthood can have on cancer risk later in life. Health habits started in youth not only have a longer time to impact risk, but they can also have unique and important interactions with the […]
How Does Your State’s Health Stack Up?
Ever wonder how you're state stacks up compared to others when it comes to important health risk factors? If so, a tool from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (below) can help you do just that. And while it can be fun to click through and explore the data from different states and for […]
Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center: 25 Years of Progress on the Links Between Overweight and Cancer
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 […]
Another Look at Luck and Cancer: Risk Accumulation & Prevention
by Graham ColditzThe debate regarding luck, prevention, and cancer risk is in the media again today (see Science, NPR, Forbes, and many others).The authors of this new paper -- a follow-up of their original published two years ago and which caused such stir -- make a clear effort too classify cancer risk as due to H - […]
12 Little Things That Can Put a Hitch in Your Efforts to Keep Weight in Check – And Ways to Fix Them
by Hank DartEven in the middle of the roiling media cycle we're in, diet has still managed to break through and make headlines the past couple weeks. Probably the biggest recent story was the release of a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that around 40 - 50 percent of […]