Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/3/13.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Eating fish associated with lower risk of dying among older adults: Risk of dying from heart disease significantly lowered - Science Daily, 4/1/13 - "Older adults who have higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids -- found in fatty fish and seafood -- may be able to lower their overall mortality risk by as much as 27% and their mortality risk from heart disease by about 35% ... older adults who had the highest blood levels of the fatty acids found in fish lived, on average, 2.2 years longer than those with lower levels ... The researchers examined 16 years of data from about 2,700 U.S. adults aged 65 or older who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a long-term study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ... One type in particular -- docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA -- was most strongly related to lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) death (40% lower risk), especially CHD death due to arrhythmias (electrical disturbances of the heart rhythm) (45% lower risk). Of the other blood fatty acids measured -- eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) -- DPA was most strongly associated with lower risk of stroke death, and EPA most strongly linked with lower risk of nonfatal heart attack" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Surgical menopause may prime brain for stroke, Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 3/28/13 - "Women who abruptly and prematurely lose estrogen from surgical menopause have a two-fold increase in cognitive decline and dementia ... We wanted to find out why that is occurring ... looked at rats 10 weeks after removal of their estrogen-producing ovaries that were either immediately started on low-dose estrogen therapy, started therapy 10 weeks later or never given estrogen ... When the researchers caused a stroke-like event in the brain's hippocampus, a center of learning and memory, they found the rodents treated late or not at all experienced more brain damage ... To make matters worse, untreated or late-treated rats also began an abnormal, robust production of Alzheimer's disease-related proteins in the CA3 region ... timing [of hormone replacement] is everything"

Monounsaturated Fats Reduce Metabolic Syndrome Risk - Science Daily, 3/29/13 - "121 participants at risk for metabolic syndrome received a daily smoothie containing 40 grams (1.42 ounces) of one of five oils as part of a weight maintenance, heart-healthy, 2000-calorie per day diet ... those who consumed canola or high-oleic canola oils on a daily basis for four weeks lowered their belly fat by 1.6 percent compared to those who consumed a flax/safflower oil blend. Abdominal fat was unchanged by the other two oils, which included a corn/safflower oil blend and high-oleic canola oil enriched with an algal source of the omega-3 DHA. Both the flax/safflower and corn/safflower oil blends were low in monounsaturated fat" - Note:  Here's the fat tables again.  Oleic acid is an omega-9.  Olive oil is 76% omega-9 whereas canola oil is 62% omega-9.

Proximity to coal-tar-sealed pavement raises risk of cancer, study finds - Science Daily, 3/28/13 - "The increased cancer risk associated with coal-tar-sealed asphalt (CSA) likely affects a large number of people in the U.S. Our results indicate that the presence of coal-tar-based pavement sealants is associated with significant increases in estimated excess lifetime cancer risk for nearby residents ... Exposure to these compounds in settled house dust is a particularly important source of risk for children younger than six years of age, as they are expected to ingest this material at higher rates"

How diabetes drug delays aging in worms - Science Daily, 3/28/13 - "Following a calorie-restricted diet has been shown to improve health in later life and extend lifespan in a number of animals, ranging from the simple worm to rhesus monkeys. The type 2 diabetes drug metformin has been found to have similar effects in animals ... Overall, treatment with metformin adds up to 6 days of life for the worm which is equivalent to around a third of its normal lifespan. It seems to work by altering metabolism in the bacteria that live in the worm, which in turn limits the nutrients that are available to the worm host and has a similar effect to restricting the diet ... However, when they added an excess of sugar to the diet, the team found that the life-extending effects of metformin were cancelled out" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Vitamin D insufficiency linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes - Science Daily, 3/27/13 - "researchers from the University of Calgary in Canada carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of all existing evidence on the effect of vitamin D concentration on pregnancy and birth outcomes ... pregnant women with low levels of 5-OH vitamin D were more likely to develop gestational diabetes (odds ratio of 0.79), had an increased chance of developing preeclampsia (odds ratio of 0.65) and an increased chance of giving birth to a baby small for gestational age (odds ratio of 0.57)" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Link between faster 'biological' aging and risk of developing age-related diseases - Science Daily, 3/27/13 - "The project studied a feature of chromosomes called telomeres ... The scientists found that the variants were indeed linked to risk of several types of cancers including colorectal cancer as well as diseases like multiple sclerosis and celiac disease. Most interestingly, the authors found that in aggregate the seven variants also associated with risk of coronary artery disease which can lead to heart attacks ... This research strongly suggests that biological ageing plays an important role in causing coronary artery disease, the commonest cause of death in the world"

Fewer children mean longer life? - Science Daily, 3/27/13 - "Studies of birds reveal that those that have offspring later in life and have fewer broods live longer. And the decisive factor is telomeres"

Scientists discover how drug prevents aging and cancer progression - Science Daily, 3/26/13 - "the antidiabetic drug metformin reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines that normally activate the immune system, but if overproduced can lead to pathological inflammation, a condition that both damages tissues in aging and favors tumor growth ... Our studies now point to one mechanism" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

OTC Supplement May Aid in Migraine Prevention - Medscape, 3/26/13 - "3 mg of melatonin was more effective than placebo and had efficacy similar to that of 25 mg of amitriptyline. Furthermore, it was better tolerated than amitriptyline, with lower rates of daytime sleepiness and no weight gain ... The mean reduction in headache frequency was 2.7 in the melatonin group, 2.18 in the amitriptyline group, and 1.18 in the placebo group ... Although patients gained weight in both the amitriptyline (n = 3) and placebo (n = 1) groups, melatonin was associated with weight loss ... melatonin should be taken between 10 pm and 11 pm to mimic the physiologic peak. In addition, a fast-acting rather than a slow-release formula should be used" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.

Protein-rich breakfasts prevent unhealthy snacking in the evening, study finds - Science Daily, 3/26/13 - "20 overweight or obese adolescent females ages 18-20 either skipped breakfast, consumed a high-protein breakfast consisting of eggs and lean beef, or ate a normal-protein breakfast of ready-to-eat cereal. Every breakfast consisted of 350 calories and was matched for dietary fat, fiber, sugar and energy density. The high-protein breakfast contained 35 grams of protein ... The consumption of the high-protein breakfast led to increased fullness or "satiety" along with reductions in brain activity that is responsible for controlling food cravings. The high-protein breakfast also reduced evening snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods compared to when breakfast was skipped or when a normal protein, ready-to-eat cereal breakfast was consumed ...Study participants ate egg and beef-based foods such as burritos or egg-based waffles with applesauce and a beef sausage patty as part of a high-protein breakfast; Leidy also suggests eating plain Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or ground pork loin as alternatives to reach the 35 grams of protein"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Dietary Fiber Intake and Risk of First Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Stroke. 2013 Mar 28 - "Total dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with risk of hemorrhagic plus ischemic stroke, with some evidence of heterogeneity between studies (I2; relative risk per 7 g/day, 0.93; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-0.98; I2=59%). Soluble fiber intake, per 4 g/day, was not associated with stroke risk reduction with evidence of low heterogeneity between studies, relative risk 0.94 (95% confidence interval, 0.88-1.01; I2=21%). There were few studies reporting stroke risk in relation to insoluble fiber or fiber from cereals, fruit, or vegetables" - See Garden of Life, RAW Fiber at Amazon.com.

Conflicts and Compromises in Not Hiring Smokers - N Engl J Med. 2013 Mar 27 - "Tobacco use is responsible for approximately 440,000 deaths in the United States each year - about one death out of every five. This number is more than the annual number of deaths caused by HIV infection, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined1 and more than the number of American servicemen who died during World War II"

Nutrient-based dietary patterns of head and neck squamous cell cancer: a factor analysis in Uruguay - Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Mar 27 - "The first pattern (meat-based pattern) was positively associated with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (OR 2.85, 95 % CI 1.81-4.15), whereas the third pattern (fruit-based) was strongly protective (OR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.27-0.63)"

Dietary patterns as predictors of prostate cancer in Jamaican men - Nutr Cancer. 2013 Apr;65(3):367-74 - "Four food patterns were identified: a "vegetable and legume" pattern, a "fast food" pattern, a "meat" pattern, and a "refined carbohydrate" pattern. Men in the highest tertile for the refined carbohydrate pattern, characterized by high intakes of rice, pasta, sugar sweetened beverages, and sweet baked foods were at increased risk of total prostate cancer [odds ratio (OR) = 2.02; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-3.87 (Ptrend = 0.029)] and low-grade disease [OR = 2.91; 95% CI = 1.18-7.13 (Ptrend = 0.019)] compared with men in the lowest tertile. The vegetable and legumes pattern (healthy), meat pattern, or fast food pattern were not associated with prostate cancer risk"

Population versus hospital controls in the assessment of dietary intake of isoflavone for case-control studies on cancers in china - Nutr Cancer. 2013 Apr;65(3):390-7 - "Three parallel case-control studies on leukemia, breast, and colorectal cancers in China in 2009-2010 were conducted, using population and hospital outpatient controls to separately match 560 incident cases at a 1:1 ratio ... Risk estimates for breast cancers were adjusted ORs (95% CI) of 0.39 (0.23-0.66) and 0.31 (0.18-0.55) for daidzein, 0.35 (0.20-0.61) and 0.28 (0.16-0.52) for genistein, 0.66 (0.41-1.08) and 0.53 (0.32-0.88) for glycitein, and 0.53 (0.33-0.85) and 0.43 (0.26-0.71) for total isoflavone using hospital outpatient and population controls respectively" - See soy isoflavones at Amazon.com.

High Coffee Intake, but Not Caffeine, is Associated with Reduced Estrogen Receptor Negative and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk with No Effect Modification by CYP1A2 Genotype - Nutr Cancer. 2013 Apr;65(3):398-409 - "recruited through the Ontario Cancer Registry and controls (n = 3,427) through random digit dialing ... Generally, coffee and caffeine were not associated with breast cancer risk; however, a significant reduction in risk was observed with the highest category of coffee consumption [≥5 cups per day vs. never, multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (MVOR) = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51, 0.98]. Variant rs762551 did not modify associations. In stratified analyses, high coffee intake was associated with reduced risk of ER- (MVOR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.92) and postmenopausal breast cancer (MVOR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43, 0.94). High coffee consumption, but not total caffeine, may be associated with reduced risk of ER- and postmenopausal breast cancers, independent of CYP1A2 genotype"

Resveratrol and Quercetin in Combination Have Anticancer Activity in Colon Cancer Cells and Repress Oncogenic microRNA-27a - Nutr Cancer. 2013 Apr;65(3):494-504 - "Resveratrol and quercetin (RQ) in combination (1:1 ratio) previously inhibited growth in human leukemia cells. This study investigated the anticancer activity of the same mixture in HT-29 colon cancer cells. RQ decreased the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by up to 2.25-fold and increased the antioxidant capacity by up to 3-fold in HT-29 cells (3.8-60 μg/mL), whereas IC50 values for viability were 18.13, 18.73, and 11.85 μg/mL, respectively. RQ also induced caspase-3-cleavage (2-fold) and increased PARP cleavage. Specificity protein (Sp) transcription factors are overexpressed in colon and other cancers and regulate genes required for cell proliferation survival and angiogenesis" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com and quercetin at Amazon.com.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Glucose Metabolism without Effects on Obesity Values and Serum Visfatin Levels in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - J Am Coll Nutr. 2012 Oct;31(5):361-8 - "controlled clinical trial was conducted on 61 women who were diagnosed with PCOS, had a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 40 kg/m(2), and were from 20-35 years old. Thirty of the subjects had taken four 1-g omega-3 fatty acids capsules per day, providing 1200 mg n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC PUFA), and 31 were given a placebo over 8 weeks ... Omega-3 fatty acids significantly decreased glucose (by 11.4%, p < 0.001), insulin (by 8.4%, p < 0.05), and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (by 21.8%, p < 0.001) compared with placebo" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Metabolic Effects of Chronic Cannabis Smoking - Diabetes Care. 2013 Mar 25 - "studied cannabis smokers (n = 30; women, 12; men, 18; 27 +/- 8 years) and control subjects (n = 30) ... Self-reported cannabis use was: 9.5 (2-38) years; joints/day: 6 (3-30) [median (range)] ... cannabis smokers had a higher percent abdominal visceral fat (18 +/- 9 vs. 12 +/- 5%; P = 0.004). Cannabis smokers had lower plasma HDL cholesterol (49 +/- 14 vs. 55 +/- 13 mg/dL; P = 0.02)" - Note:  So you still get the beer belly even without the beer.

Use of glucosamine and chondroitin supplements and risk of colorectal cancer - Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Mar 26 - "Participants include 75,137 western Washington residents aged 50-76 who completed the mailed VITAL questionnaire between 2000 and 2002. Use of glucosamine and chondroitin was ascertained by questions about supplement use during the 10-year period prior to baseline, and participants were followed for CRC through 2008 ... Persons reporting use of glucosamine + chondroitin on 4+ days/week for 3+ years had a non-statistically significant 45 % lower CRC risk than non-users" - See glucosamine products at Amazon.com and chondroitin sulfate at Amazon.com.

Coffee consumption and risk of localized, advanced and fatal prostate cancer: a population-based prospective study - Ann Oncol. 2013 Mar 18 - "A population-based cohort of 44,613 Swedish men aged 45-79 years was followed up from January 1998 through December 2010 ... For localized PCa, each one cup increase in daily coffee consumption was associated with a 3% reduced risk [sub-hazard ratio (SHR) = 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.95-0.99]. For advanced and fatal PCa, we found a non-significant inverse association; each one cup increase was associated with a 2% reduced risk of advanced [SHR (95% CI) = 0.98 (0.95-1.02)] and fatal PCa [SHR (95% CI) = 0.98 (0.93-1.03)]"

Health Focus (Cancer Cures?):

Related Topics:

• bladder cancer / brain cancer / breast cancer / cervical cancer / colon cancer / Endometrial Cancer / head and neck cancer / kidney cancer / Hodgkin's disease / leukemia / liver cancer / lung cancer / lymphoma / ovarian cancer / pancreatic cancer / prostate cancer / stomach cancer / testicular cancer

Popular Medications:

• angiostatin, endostatin and other anti-angiogenesis drugs / Gleevec (imatinib) / Paraplatin (carboplatin) / Aptosyn (exisulind) / Arimidex (anastrozole) / Faslodex (fulvestrant) / Femara (letrozole) / Herceptin (trastuzumab) / Nolvadex (tamoxifen) / Taxol / Taxotere (docetaxel) / Xeloda (capecitabine) / ZD 1839 (Iressa) / doxycycline

Popular Supplements:

• IP-6 / coenzyme Q10 / green tea / Calcium D-Glucarate / Iscador® (mistletoe) / mixed carotenoids / quercetin / grape seed / maitake / MGN3 / IC-3 / DIM / cruciferous vegetables / isoflavones / curcumin / omega-3 / ginseng / garlic / flaxseed / GLA / pau d'arco / CLA / selenium / astragalus / aspirin / boron / red yeast rice / melatonin / glysine / Celebrex or Vioxx

Alternative News:

• Excess sugar linked to cancer - Science Daily, 2/1/13 - "Dr Garcia Jimenez's laboratory was studying how cells in the intestine respond to sugars and signal to the pancreas to release insulin, the key hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Sugars in the intestine trigger cells to release a hormone called GIP that enhances insulin release by the pancreas ... the ability of the intestinal cells to secrete GIP is controlled by a protein called β-catenin, and that the activity of β-catenin is strictly dependent on sugar levels ... high (but not normal) sugar levels induce nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and leads to cell proliferation"
• Omega-3 fatty acids in cancer - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2013 Jan 7 - "Inflammation dictates tumour initiation, progression and growth. Omega-3 fatty acids exert anti-inflammatory effects, and therefore recent studies investigated their role in cancer prevention, in cancer cachexia treatment and in enhancement of antitumour therapies. Limited evidence suggests a role for omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in cancer prevention, but they have been shown to preserve muscle mass and function in cancer patients even during active treatment. During chemotherapy, omega-3 fatty acids may contribute to a reduced inflammatory response, but whether cancer treatment toxicity can be prevented remains to be assessed. Finally, small studies showed that omega-3 fatty acids increase response rate to chemotherapy" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Resveratrol suppresses tumor progression via the regulation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Jan 3 - "Systemic administration of resveratrol suppressed tumor growth in EG7 thymoma-bearing mice in an IDO-dependent manner" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Antitumor effects of dietary black and brown rice brans in tumor-bearing mice: Relationship to composition - Mol Nutr Food Res. 2012 Dec 23 - "Black and brown rice brans from Oryza sativa LK1-3-6-12-1 and Chuchung cultivars each contained 21 compounds characterized by GC/MS [gas chromatography–mass spectrometrgas chromatography–mass spectrometry]. Mice fed diets with added rice brans for 2 weeks were intracutaneously inoculated with CT-26 mouse cancer cells and fed the same diet for two additional weeks. Tumor mass was 35 and 19% lower in the black and brown bran-fed groups, respectively" - See brown rice pasta at Amazon.com.
• Diabetes Drug Metformin May Fight Cancer - WebMD, 12/3/12 - "The study is just one of dozens under way worldwide examining the drug -- which costs just pennies a pill -- as a treatment for breast, colon, prostate, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers ... After five years, 67% of women who took metformin had not died from ovarian cancer, compared to 47% of women without diabetes who did not take the drug ... The survival difference in the two groups was striking ... Every way we looked at this, the metformin group always did better ... If metformin really does fight cancer, it may do so by lowering circulating insulin levels in the blood" - [Science Daily] - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Raf and PI3K are the Molecular Targets for the Anti-metastatic Effect of Luteolin - Phytother Res. 2012 Nov 21 - "Metastases are the primary cause of human cancer deaths. Luteolin, a naturally occurring phytochemical, has chemopreventive and/or anticancer properties in several cancer cell lines ... An in vivo mouse study showed that oral administration (10 or 50 mg/kg) of luteolin significantly inhibited tumor nodules and tumor volume of lung metastasis induced by intravenous injection of CT-26 cells. Luteolin also inhibited MMP-9 expression and activity in CT-26-induced mouse lung tissue. These results suggest that luteolin may have considerable potential for development as an anti-metastatic agent" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com.
  • Luteolin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Luteolin is a yellow crystalline compound. It is a flavonoid; to be specific, it is one of the more common flavones.[1] From preliminary research, it is thought to play a role in the human body possibly as an antioxidant, a free radical scavenger, a promoter of carbohydrate metabolism, or an immune system modulator"
• Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Nov 20 - "cancer incidence among 69,120 participants of the Adventist Health Study-2 ... The multivariate HR of overall cancer risk among vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians was statistically significant (HR=0.92; 95%CI: 0.85, 0.99) for both genders combined. Also, a statistically significant association was found between vegetarian diet and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (HR=0.76; 95%CI: 0.63, 0.90). When analyzing the association of specific vegetarian dietary patterns, vegan diets showed statistically significant protection for overall cancer incidence (HR=0.84; 95%CI: 0.72, 0.99) in both genders combined and for female-specific cancers (HR=0.66; 95%CI: 0.47, 0.92). Lacto-ovo-vegetarians appeared to be associated with decreased risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal system (HR=0.75; 95%CI: 0.60, 0.92)"
• Multivitamins in the prevention of cancer in men: the Physicians' Health Study II randomized controlled trial - JAMA. 2012 Nov 14;308(18):1871-80 - "A large-scale, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial (Physicians" Health Study II) of 14 641 male US physicians initially aged 50 years or older (mean [SD] age, 64.3 [9.2] years), including 1312 men with a history of cancer at randomization, enrolled in a common multivitamin study that began in 1997 with treatment and follow-up through June 1, 2011 ... In this large prevention trial of male physicians, daily multivitamin supplementation modestly but significantly reduced the risk of total cancer" - I think this was the following which I published last month:
  • Multivitamins Cut Cancer Risk in Men, Study Finds - ABC News, 10/17/12 - "a new study of almost 15,000 men over 50 suggests popping that daily supplement could cut cancer rates by 8 percent ... It's unclear whether the results apply to women or men under 50 ... First, the new study randomly assigned men to two groups, one of which took a daily Centrum Silver® while the other took a placebo pill ... Second, it followed the men, who were 65 years old on average, over 11 years – a longer follow-up than previous studies and sufficient time for cancer to develop ...Other trials have tested a single vitamin such as calcium or vitamin A, E or D in large doses, which is very different from how people normally get the vitamins and minerals they need from food" - Yeah but I wouldn't call Centrum Silver a top of the line supplement.  Click here and click on "Product Labeling" for ingredients.  Some examples; it's only has the synthetic dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate form of vitamin E plus there are 8 forms of that vitamin.  There are over 600 carotenoids and some claim taking just one of those can cause a deficiency of the others, etc.  See Garden of Life, Vitamin Code, 50 & Wiser Men at Amazon.com and Garden of Life, Vitamin Code, 50 & Wiser Women at Amazon.com.
• Night-Shift Work Ups the Risk for Various Cancers in Men - Medscape, 10/31/12 - "The study compared 3137 men with cancer and 512 matched control subjects who completed a detailed questionnaire about occupational work and lifestyle from 1979 to 1985 ... Compared with men who never worked at night, men who worked night shifts had an increased risk for prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR], 2.77), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (OR, 2.31), pancreatic cancer (OR, 2.27), rectal cancer (OR, 2.09), colon cancer (OR, 2.03), bladder cancer (OR, 1.74), and lung cancer (OR, 1.76) ... "When I first proposed the light-at-night hypothesis, it linked circadian disturbance to hormone disruption and breast cancer," Dr. Stevens explained. Since then, circadian disruption has been linked to many other adverse effects, it has been demonstrated that melatonin has a direct effect on tumor growth, and some of the latest research he has been involved with has shown that circadian disruption has an epigenetic impact" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.
• Multivitamins Cut Cancer Risk in Men, Study Finds - ABC News, 10/17/12 - "a new study of almost 15,000 men over 50 suggests popping that daily supplement could cut cancer rates by 8 percent ... It's unclear whether the results apply to women or men under 50 ... First, the new study randomly assigned men to two groups, one of which took a daily Centrum Silver® while the other took a placebo pill ... Second, it followed the men, who were 65 years old on average, over 11 years – a longer follow-up than previous studies and sufficient time for cancer to develop ...Other trials have tested a single vitamin such as calcium or vitamin A, E or D in large doses, which is very different from how people normally get the vitamins and minerals they need from food" - Yeah but I wouldn't call Centrum Silver a top of the line supplement.  Click here and click on "Product Labeling" for ingredients.  Some examples; it's only has the synthetic dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate form of vitamin E plus there are 8 forms of that vitamin.  There are over 600 carotenoids and some claim taking just one of those can cause a deficiency of the others, etc.
• Mushroom-Derived Compound Lengthens Survival in Dogs With Cancer, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 9/10/12 - "The Coriolus versicolor mushroom, known commonly as the Yunzhi mushroom, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. The compound in the mushroom that is believed to have immune-boosting properties is polysaccharopeptide, or PSP ... We were shocked ... Prior to this, the longest reported median survival time of dogs with hemangiosarcoma of the spleen that underwent no further treatment was 86 days. We had dogs that lived beyond a year with nothing other than this mushroom as treatment" -  See Yun Zhi at Amazon.com and Coriolus versicolor at Amazon.com
• Diindolilmethane (DIM) selectively inhibits cancer stem cells - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2012 Jun 19 - "Epidemiologic studies repeatedly have shown chemopreventive effects of cruciferous vegetables. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and its metabolite diindolylmethane (DIM) were identified in these plants as active ingredients and theirs anti-tumor activities were confirmed in multiple in vitro and in vivo experiments. Here, we demonstrate that DIM is a selective and potent inhibitor of cancer stem cells (CSCs). In several cancer cell lines, DIM inhibited tumor sphere formation at the concentrations 30-300 times lower than concentrations required for growth inhibition of parental cells cultured as adherent culture. We also found that treatment with DIM overcomes chemoresistance of CSCs to cytotoxics, such as paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and SN-38 ... DIM can potentially be used in cancer patients, either alone, or in combinations with existing drugs" - See diindolylmethane at Amazon.com.
• Metformin may lower cancer risk in people with type 2 diabetes - Science Daily, 6/25/12 - "the odds of getting any type of cancer was 0.62 times less -- an estimated 38 percent relative risk reduction -- with daily continuous use of metformin than for those with no exposure to metformin ... This risk reduction with metformin use extended to certain types of cancers, specifically colon and breast cancer ... Metformin, which is the standard recommended initial treatment of Type 2 diabetes, may protect against cancer because it regulates activity of an enzyme that suppresses cell growth" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Ginseng May Banish Cancer Fatigue, New Study Finds - ABC News, 6/4/12 - "Researchers gave 2,000 milligrams of pure ground American ginseng or a placebo pill to 340 patients being treated for cancer and cancer survivors who had finished their treatment. After four weeks, patients reported little change in their cancer-related fatigue. But after eight weeks, the patients taking ginseng reported feeling generally more energized than their sugar pill-popping peers. The response was particularly strong among patients who were currently undergoing cancer treatment ... Some studies have shown that ginseng decreases inflammation and the stress hormone cortisol, both of which may be contributing factors to cancer-related fatigue ... Extracts of ginseng that are alcohol based change a characteristic of the ginseng to be somewhat estrogenic ... Stay with very reputable companies" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin E in diet protects against many cancers, study suggests - Science Daily, 4/23/12 - "Our message is that the vitamin E form of gamma-tocopherols, the most abundant form of vitamin E in the American diet, and delta-tocopherols, also found in vegetable oils, are beneficial in preventing cancers while the form of vitamin E, alpha- tocopherol, the most commonly used in vitamin E supplements, has no such benefit ... the most commonly used form of vitamin E supplements, alpha-tocopherol, not only did not prevent prostate cancer, but its use significantly increased the risk of this disease among healthy men" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Aspirin reduces cancer risk: Is it time to include it in cancer prevention guidelines? - Science Daily, 4/9/12 - "In six primary prevention trials of daily low-dose aspirin, randomization to aspirin treatment was associated with an approximately 20% reduction in overall cancer incidence between 3 and 5 years after initiation of the intervention (metaodds ratio [OR] = 0.81; 95% CI 0.67-0.98) and a 30% reduction during follow up more than 5 years after randomization (meta-OR = 0.70; 95% CI 0.56-0.88). Cancer mortality was also reduced during study follow up that happened more than 5 years after the start of aspirin use (meta-OR = 0.63; 95% CI 0.49-0.82) in analyses that included 34 trials of daily aspirin at various doses. Surprisingly, the size of the observed benefit did not increase with daily doses of aspirin above 75-100 mg"
• Daily Aspirin May Help Prevent and Treat Cancer - WebMD, 3/20/12 - "analyzed data from 51 trials originally designed to examine the impact of daily aspirin on heart attack and stroke risk ... taking a low-dose aspirin every day reduced the risk of death from cancer by 37% after at least five years of use ... In a second study, the researchers examined the impact of daily aspirin therapy on cancer metastasis, or spread, by analyzing newly published data from five other large trials ... Over an average follow-up of six-and-a-half years, daily aspirin use was associated with a 36% reduced risk of cancer with distant spread"
• n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: the potential role for supplementation in cancer - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2012 Feb 23 - "Low n-3 fatty acids are associated with loss of skeletal muscle, suggesting a need for supplementation ... Recent evidence appears to favour providing n-3 fatty acids early in the disease trajectory, during antineoplastic therapy for preservation of muscle and also to improve treatment tolerance" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Eat your broccoli: Another mechanism discovered by which sulforaphane prevents cancer - Science Daily, 2/28/12 - "it provides not just one, but two ways to prevent cancer through the complex mechanism of epigenetics ... Epigenetics, an increasing focus of research around the world, refers not just to our genetic code, but also to the way that diet, toxins and other forces can change which genes get activated, or "expressed." This can play a powerful role in everything from cancer to heart disease and other health issues ... HDAC inhibitors, such as sulforaphane, can help restore proper balance and prevent the development of cancer. This is one of the most promising areas of much cancer research. But the new OSU studies have found a second epigenetic mechanism, DNA methylation, which plays a similar role" - See sulforaphane at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients - Science Daily, 10/3/11 - "More than three-quarters of cancer patients have insufficient levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) and the lowest levels are associated with more advanced cancer ... Researchers are just starting to examine how vitamin D may impact specific features of cancer, such as the stage or extent of tumor spread, prognosis, recurrence or relapse of disease, and even sub-types of cancer" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Olive oil intake is inversely related to cancer prevalence: A systematic review and a meta-analysis of 13800 patients and 23340 controls in 19 observational studies - Lipids Health Dis. 2011 Jul 30;10(1):127 - "Dietary fat, both in terms of quantity and quality, has been implicated to cancer development, either positively or negatively. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether olive oil or monounsaturated fat intake was associated with the development of cancer. A systematic search of relevant studies, published in English, between 1990 and March 1, 2011, was performed through a computer-assisted literature tool (i.e., Pubmed). In total 38 studies were initially allocated; of them 19 case-control studies were finally studied (13800 cancer patients and 23340 controls were included). Random effects meta-analysis was applied in order to evaluate the research hypothesis. It was found that compared with the lowest, the highest category of olive oil consumption was associated with lower odds of having any type of cancer (log odds ratio = -0.41, 95%CI -0.53, -0.29, Cohran's Q=47.52, p=0.0002, I-sq=62%); the latter was irrespective of the country of origin (Mediterranean or non-Mediterranean). Moreover, olive oil consumption was associated with lower odds of developing breast cancer (logOR=-0,45 95%CI -0.78 to -0.12), and a cancer of the digestive system (logOR=-0,36 95%CI -0.50 to -0.21), compared with the lowest intake.The strength and consistency of the findings states a hypothesis about the protective role of olive oil intake on cancer risk. However, it is still unclear whether olive oil's monounsaturated fatty acid content or its antioxidant components are responsible for its beneficial effects" - Note:  That last sentence has been my question on many of the olive oil studies.  I still use my olive oil mayonnaise made with the extra light plus I take the olive oil extract capsules.  I'm not going to suffer through the taste of the extra virgin olive oil.  See olive leaf extract at Amazon.com.
• Luteolin induces apoptosis in multidrug resistant cancer cells without affecting the drug transporter function: involvement of cell line-specific apoptotic mechanisms - Int J Cancer. 2011 Jul 25 - "These results suggest that luteolin possesses therapeutic potential to control the proliferation of MDR cancers without affecting the physiological function of drug transporters in the body tissues"
• Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets may reduce both tumor growth rates and cancer risk - Science Daily, 6/14/11 - "The first diet, a typical Western diet, contained about 55 percent carbohydrate, 23 percent protein and 22 percent fat. The second, which is somewhat like a South Beach diet but higher in protein, contained 15 percent carbohydrate, 58 percent protein and 26 percent fat. They found that the tumor cells grew consistently slower on the second diet ... As well, mice genetically predisposed to breast cancer were put on these two diets and almost half of them on the Western diet developed breast cancer within their first year of life while none on the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet did. Interestingly, only one on the Western diet reached a normal life span (approximately 2 years), with 70 percent of them dying from cancer while only 30 percent of those on the low-carbohydrate diet developed cancer and more than half these mice reached or exceeded their normal life span ... tumor cells, unlike normal cells, need significantly more glucose to grow and thrive. Restricting carbohydrate intake can significantly limit blood glucose and insulin, a hormone that has been shown in many independent studies to promote tumor growth in both humans and mice"
• Induction of Apoptosis by γ-Tocotrienol in Human Cancer Cell Lines and Leukemic Blasts From Patients: Dependency on Bid, Cytochrome c, and Caspase Pathway - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jun 9:1 - "Tocotrienols (Toc3) have been suggested to possess anticancer effects besides antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects. Previous studies have demonstrated that Toc3 induce apoptosis in epithelial carcinoma. However, the effects of Toc3 on malignant hematopoietic cells have not yet been thoroughly investigated. We investigated Toc3-induced apoptosis in human hematological cancer cell lines. α-, δ-, and γ-Toc3 induced concentration-dependent apoptosis, and γ-Toc3 demonstrated more effective induction than the other Toc3 derivatives in HL-60 cells. γ-Toc3 may have induced apoptosis by activation of the caspase cascade, cytochrome c (Cyt.c) release, Bid cleavage, and mitochondorial membrane depolarization in HL-60, NB-4, Raji, and SY-5Y cells. Furthermore, 10-30 μM γ-Toc3 showed cytotoxicity for leukemic cells from various patients regardless of lymphoblastic, myeloblastic, or relapsed leukemia, but the cytotoxic effect was weak in normal mononuclear cells, interestingly. γ-Toc3 may have a role in cancer prevention and potential for treating hematological malignancies" - Note:  The γ is the gamma symbol.  See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Oral Resveratrol Therapy Inhibits Cancer-Induced Skeletal Muscle and Cardiac Atrophy In Vivo - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jun 8:1 - "The mechanism by which cancer mediates muscle atrophy has been delineated in the past 3 decades and includes a prominent role of tumor-derived cytokines, such as IL-6, TNFα, and IL-1. These cytokines interact with their cognate receptors on muscle to activate the downstream transcription factor NF-κB and induce sarcomere proteolysis. Experimentally, inhibiting NF-κB signaling largely prevents cancer-induced muscle wasting, indicating its prominent role in muscle atrophy. Resveratrol, a natural phytoalexin found in the skin of grapes, has recently been shown to inhibit NF-κB in cancer cells, which led us to hypothesize that it might have a protective role in cancer cachexia. Therefore, we investigated whether daily oral resveratrol could protect against skeletal muscle loss and cardiac atrophy in an established mouse model. We demonstrate resveratrol inhibits skeletal muscle and cardiac atrophy induced by C26 adenocarcinoma tumors through its inhibition of NF-κB (p65) activity in skeletal muscle and heart. These studies demonstrate for the first time the utility of oral resveratrol therapy to provide clinical benefit in cancer-induced atrophy through the inhibition of NF-κB in muscle. These findings may have application in the treatment of diseases with parallel pathophysiologies such as muscular dystrophy and heart failure" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Supplement found to improve quality of life for female cancer survivors - Science Daily, 6/6/11 - "Interested in quality of life issues for female cancer survivors, Kathryn M. Greven, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Wake Forest Baptist, first learned of the supplement, called ArginMax for WomenTM, from a small study conducted at Stanford University that found that it improved sexual function. Sexual dysfunction is prevalent in female cancer survivors, so Greven set out to see if the supplement could produce the same benefit in this population. She found that, while taking the supplement did not result in any improvement in sexual function for female cancer survivors, the supplement did improve their overall quality of life ... The FACT-G questionnaire measures overall quality of life and has been used in research of all cancer types. It evaluates physical, emotional, social and functional well-being ... the study findings did reveal an across-the-board boost in measures of overall quality of life for the patients who were randomized to take ArginMaxTM. The FACT-G questionnaires showed improvements in both physical and functional well being among the participants taking the supplement ... Bothersome symptoms such as lack of energy, pain, nausea, and sleeplessness were all improved, as were measures of functional well-being, for example the ability to perform normal activities at home or work. Simply, they reported a greater enjoyment of life, without any additional side effects from the supplement ... ArginMaxTM is made from a patented formula containing a proprietary blend of L-arginine, ginseng, ginkgo, and 14 vitamins and minerals noted for boosting energy and circulation and optimizing hormonal balance. A separate Men's formula also is available" - See ArginMax products at Amazon.com.
• Acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid suppresses invasion of pancreatic cancer cells through the downregulation of CXCR4 chemokine receptor expression - Int J Cancer. 2011 Feb 3 - "Ninety percent of cancer-mediated deaths are due to metastasis of the tumor; however, the mechanisms controlling metastasis remain poorly understood. Thus, no therapy targeting this process has yet been approved. Chemokines and their receptors are mediators of chronic inflammation and have been linked to the metastasis of numerous cancers. More recently, the Cysteine X Cysteine (CXC) chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) has emerged as a key mediator of tumor metastasis; therefore, identification of inhibitors of this receptor has the potential to abrogate metastasis. In this report, we demonstrate that acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA), a component of the therapeutic plant Boswellia serrata, can downregulate CXCR4 expression in pancreatic cancer cells. The reduction in CXCR4 induced by this terpenoid was found to be cell-type specific, as its expression was also abrogated in leukemia, myeloma and breast cancer cell lines. Neither proteasome inhibitors nor lysosomal stabilization could prevent the AKBA-induced reduction in CXCR4 expression. This downregulation occurred at the transcriptional level. Suppression of CXCR4 by AKBA was accompanied by the inhibition of pancreatic cancer cell invasion, which is induced by CXCL12, the ligand for CXCR4. In addition, abrogation of the expression of chemokine receptor by AKBA was found in human pancreatic tissues from orthotopic animal model. AKBA also abolished breast tumor cell invasion, and this effect correlated with the disappearance of both the CXCR4 messenger RNA and CXCR4 protein. Overall, our results show that AKBA is a novel inhibitor of CXCR4 expression and, thus, has the potential to suppress the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells" - See boswellia at Amazon.com
• Does selenium prevent cancer? It may depend on which form people take - Science Daily, 3/16/11 - "Hugh Harris and colleagues note that although the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer clinical trial showed that selenium reduced the risk of cancer, a later study called the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial did not show a benefit. A major difference between the trials was the form of selenium that was used. To find out whether different types of selenium have different chemopreventive properties, the researchers studied how two forms -- SeMet and MeSeCys -- are processed in human lung cancer cells ... The researchers found that MeSeCys killed more lung cancer cells than SeMet did. Also, lung cancer cells treated with MeSeCys processed the selenium differently than than cells treated with SeMet"
  • Selenomethionine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Selenomethionine is an amino acid containing selenium. The L-enantiomer of selenomethionine, known as Se-met and Sem, is a common natural food source of selenium"
  • Selenium metabolism in rats with long-term ingestion of Se-methylselenocysteine using enriched stable isotopes - J Toxicol Sci. 2009 Apr;34(2):191-200 - "Se-methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys)"
  • se-methyl l-selenocysteine at Amazon.com
• Epigallocatechin-3-gallate effectively attenuates skeletal muscle atrophy caused by cancer cachexia - Cancer Lett. 2011 Mar 10 - "Cachexia, also known as wasting syndrome notably with skeletal muscle atrophy, costs nearly one-third of all cancer deaths in man. (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the principal polyphenolic component in green tea, is a potent preventive against cachexia as well as cancers ... EGCG was demonstrated to be able to retard tumor progression as well as to prevent body weight from loss, because EGCG attenuates skeletal muscle leukocytic infiltration and down-regulates tumor-induced NF-κB and E3-ligases in muscle. In mice, the dosages optimized against cachexia were determined to be 0.2mg/mouse/day for prevention and to be 0.6mg/mouse/day for treatment. Anti-cachexia effects were assessed using the LLC tumor model. Mice with the same body weight were divided into groups, including control, tumor bearing, and tumor-bearing but receiving water or EGCG in both prevention and treatment experiments. RT-PCR was used to assess mRNA expressions of NF-κB, MuRF 1, and MAFbx. The intracellular NF-κB, MuRF 1 and MAFbx were determined and quantified by immunofluorescence and Western blotting, respectively. Our results conclude EGCG regulates the expressions of NF-κB as well as downstream mediators, MuRF 1 and MAFbx, so EGCG may be an appropriate agent to be included in ensemble therapeutics of the tumor-induced muscle atrophy" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• The Effect of Green Tea Extract and EGCG on the Signaling Network in Squamous Cell Carcinoma - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Mar 3:1 - "These results suggested that GTE and EGCG target multiple pathways or global networks in cancer cells, which resulted in collective inhibition of cancer cell growth" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Markedly higher vitamin D intake needed to reduce cancer risk, researchers say - Science Daily, 2/22/11 - "We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4000-8000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases -- breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes ... Most scientists who are actively working with vitamin D now believe that 40 to 60 ng/ml is the appropriate target concentration of 25-vitamin D in the blood for preventing the major vitamin D-deficiency related diseases ... only 10 percent of the US population has levels in this range, mainly people who work outdoors" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), a Major Component of Green Tea, is a Dual Phosphoinositide-3-kinase/mTOR Inhibitor - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011 Feb 4 - "The PI3K signaling pathway is activated in a broad spectrum of human cancers, either directly by genetic mutation or indirectly via activation of receptor tyrosine kinases or inactivation of the PTEN tumor suppressor ... The potency of EGCG against PI3K and mTOR is within physiologically relevant concentrations. In addition, EGCG inhibits cell proliferation and AKT phosphorylation at Ser473 in MDA-MB-231 and A549 cells. Molecular docking studies show that EGCG binds well to the PI3K kinase domain active site, agreeing with the finding that EGCG competes for ATP binding. Our results suggest another important molecular mechanism for the anticancer activities of EGCG" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• The Flavonoid Quercetin Modulates the Hallmark Capabilities of Hamster Buccal Pouch Tumors - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Feb 2:1 - "Epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated the protective effects of dietary phytochemicals against cancer risk. Quercetin, a ubiquitous dietary flavonoid, has attracted considerable attention owing to its potent antioxidant and antiproliferative activities ... Simultaneous administration of quercetin to DMBA-painted hamsters reduced tumor incidence and tumor burden, while posttreatment of quercetin resulted in a significant tumor growth delay. In addition, quercetin administration induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and blocked invasion and angiogenesis. We found a positive correlation between the inhibition of HDAC-1 and DNMT1 by quercetin and its anticancer properties. A dietary phytochemical such as quercetin that modulates a plethora of molecules offers promise as an ideal candidate for multitargeted cancer prevention and therapy" - See quercetin at Amazon.com.
• Protective properties of green tea uncovered - Science Daily, 1/5/11 - "Regularly drinking green tea could protect the brain against developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia ... The study, published in the academic journal Phytomedicine, also suggests this ancient Chinese remedy could play a vital role in protecting the body against cancer" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• A Heat-Stable Extract From Mucuna Stimulates the Differentiation of Bone Marrow Cells Into Dendritic Cells and Induces Apoptosis in Cancer Cells - Nutr Cancer. 2010 Dec 16:1 - "Pine cone extract is known to induce differentiation of human mononuclear cells into dendritic cells (DCs) and also to induce apoptosis in human cancer cells. In the present study, we screened edible plants that contain components with biological activities similar to or more potent than those of pine cone extract. We found that Mucuna (Mucuna pruviens var. utilis) contains a DC differentiation/maturation-inducing activity and a component that induces apoptosis in human cancer cell lines. Mucuna extract specifically stimulated differentiation of BM cells to immature DCs. Marked production of IL-6 was observed by sequential treatment with at least 10 μg/mL of Mucuna extract followed by LPS. The sequential treatment with Mucuna extract followed by LPS produced a much higher ratio of IL-12 to IL-6 and a lower ratio of TNF-α to IL-6 than that obtained by sequential treatment with a medicinal mushroom Phellinus linteus extract and then LPS. The DC differentiation/maturation activity and the component inducing apoptosis in cancer cells were separable by column chromatography" - See Mucuna pruriens at Amazon.com.
  • Dendritic cell - Wikipedia - "Dendritic cells (DCs) are immune cells that form part of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the surface to other cells of the immune system, thus functioning as antigen-presenting cells. They act as messengers between the innate and adaptive immunity"
• Aspirin Cuts Death Rate From Several Common Cancers - Medscape, 12/7/10 - "The researchers showed a 21% reduction in the number of deaths caused by cancer among those who had taken aspirin, compared with those who had not ... The investigation also showed that the benefits of taking aspirin increased over time. After 5 years, death rates were shown to fall by 34% for all cancers and by 54% for gastrointestinal cancers ... This 20-year follow-up established that the risk for cancer death remained 20% lower among those who had been allocated aspirin than among those who had not for all solid cancers, including lung, prostate, brain, bladder, and kidney cancers, and by 35% for gastrointestinal cancers ... The fall in the risk for death broke down according to individual types of cancer: 60% for esophageal cancer, 40% for colorectal cancer, 30% for lung cancer, and 10% for prostate cancer" - Note:  There are also downsides to aspirin.  Some examples:
  • Regular analgesic use increases hearing loss in men, study finds - Science Daily, 3/1/10 - "For aspirin, regular users under 50 and those aged 50-59 years were 33% more likely to have hearing loss than were nonregular users, but there was no association among men aged 60 years and older. For NSAIDs, regular users aged under 50 were 61% more likely, those aged 50-59 were 32% more likely, and those aged 60 and older were 16% more likely to develop hearing loss than nonregular users of NSAIDs. For acetaminophen, regular users aged under 50 were 99% more likely, regular users aged 50-59 were 38% more likely, and those aged 60 and older were 16% more likely to have hearing loss than nonregular users of acetaminophen"
  • Regular use of aspirin increases risk of Crohn's disease by 5 times, study finds - Science Daily, 5/4/10 - "the researchers discovered that those taking aspirin regularly for a year or more were around five times more likely to develop Crohn's disease"
• Influence of diet enriched with Conjugated Linoleic Acids on their distribution in tissues of rats with DMBA induced tumors - Lipids Health Dis. 2010 Nov 2;9(1):126 - "Animals were divided into four groups depending on the diet supplementation (oil or Bio-C.L.A. (Pharma Nord Denmark) given intragastrically) and presence or absence of carcinogenic agent (7,12-dimethylbenz[a]antharcene) ... Diet enriched with CLA decreased the cancer morbidity (67% in Bio-C.L.A. compared to 88% in oil) and delayed the cancer induction" - See conjugated linoleic acid at Amazon.com.
• Flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and cancer risk: a network of case-control studies from Italy - Nutr Cancer. 2010 Oct;62(7):871-7 - "Total flavonoids, flavanones, and flavonols were inversely related to oral and laryngeal cancers (ORs, respectively 0.56 and 0.60 for total flavonoids; 0.51 and 0.60 for flavanones; and 0.62 and 0.32 for flavonols). Flavanols were also inversely related to laryngeal cancer (OR = 0.64), whereas flavanones were inversely related to esophageal cancer (OR = 0.38). A reduced risk of colorectal cancer was found for high intake of anthocyanidins (OR = 0.67), flavonols (OR = 0.64), flavones (OR = 0.78), and isoflavones (OR = 0.76). Inverse relations with breast cancer were found for flavones (OR = 0.81) and flavonols (OR = 0.80). Flavonols (OR = 0.63) and isoflavones (OR = 0.51) were inversely associated to ovarian cancer, whereas flavonols (OR = 0.69) and flavones (OR = 0.68) were inversely associated to renal cancer. No association between flavonoids and prostate cancer emerged. We found inverse associations between proanthocyanidins and colorectal cancer. These associations appeared stronger for proanthocyanidins with a higher degree of polymerization (OR = 0.69 for ≥ 10 mers)" - See bioflavonoids at Amazon.com.
• Perioperative arginine-supplemented nutrition in malnourished patients with head and neck cancer improves long-term survival - Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Sep 29 - "Plasma arginine concentrations are lower in patients with cancer, which indicates that arginine metabolism may be disturbed in these patients. Arginine supplementation has been associated with positive effects on antitumor mechanisms and has been shown to reduce tumor growth and to prolong survival. Furthermore, the prognosis of patients with head and neck cancer remains disappointing. Insufficient intake frequently leads to malnutrition, which contributes to high morbidity and mortality rates ... The group receiving arginine-enriched nutrition had a significantly better overall survival (P = 0.019) and better disease-specific survival (P = 0.022). Furthermore, the arginine-supplemented group had a significantly better locoregional recurrence-free survival (P = 0.027). No significant difference in the occurrence of distant metastases or occurrence of a second primary tumor was observed between the groups" - See L-arginine products at Amazon.com.
• Sulphoraphane inhibited the expressions of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 through MyD88-dependent toll-like receptor-4 pathway in cultured endothelial cells - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2010 Sep 27 - "Chronic inflammation plays pivotal roles in both cancer and cardiovascular diseases. A large body of evidence suggests that high intake of cruciferous vegetables is closely related with low risk of these disorders ... Taken all together, adhesion molecules are confirmed to be the novel targets of sulphoraphane in preventing inflammatory insult to endothelial cells. Sulphoraphane suppressed TLR-4 followed by MyD88 and downstream factors such as p38 MAPK and JNK, ultimately blocking NF-кB translocation and the subsequent expression of adhesion molecules. These data suggested a novel inflammatory pathway mediated by sulphoraphane" - See sulforaphane at Amazon.com.
• Curcuminoids Suppress the Growth and Induce Apoptosis through Caspase-3-Dependent Pathways in Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) 8401 Cells - J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Sep 7 - "The results observed with proliferation inhibition (y = 94.694e(-0.025x), R(2) = 0.9901, and n = 6) and apoptosis (y = 0.9789e(-0.0102x), R(2) = 0.99854, and n = 3) depend upon the amount of curcuminoid treatment in the cancer cells" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• Metformin Might Prevent Colorectal, Lung Cancers - Medscape, 9/3/10 - "The chance observation that diabetes patients taking metformin have a 40% reduced risk for cancer triggered intense research interest in this old off-patent drug ... After about 10% of the mouse lifespan — about 12 weeks — with the highest dose in the drinking water, we found a 33% reduction in tumor multiplicity and a 34% reduction in tumor size in the mice. In mice that did not get metformin, 100% got tobacco carcinogen-induced lung tumors ... metformin might prevent tumors by reducing levels of insulin and IGF-1" - See my Insulin and Aging page.  There are a lot of studies pointing toward insulin being a major cause of aging and caner.  See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• {gamma}-Tocotrienol but not {gamma}-tocopherol blocks STAT3 cell signaling pathway through induction of protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 and sensitizes tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents - J Biol Chem. 2010 Aug 18 - "We found that gamma-T3 but not gamma-tocopherol, the most common saturated form of Vitamin E, inhibited constitutive activation of STAT3 in a dose- and time-dependent manner and this inhibition was not cell type specific. gamma-T3 also inhibited STAT3 DNA binding ... This vitamin also sensitized the tumor cells to the apoptotic effects of thalidomide and bortezomib. Overall, our results suggest that gamma-T3 is a novel blocker of STAT3 activation pathway in both in vitro and in vivo and thus may have potential in prevention and treatment of cancers" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• N-Acetylcysteine interacts with copper to generate hydrogen peroxide and selectively induce cancer cell death - Cancer Lett. 2010 Jul 26 - "NAC/Cu(II) significantly alters growth and induces apoptosis in human cancer lines, yet NAC/Zn(II) and NAC/Fe(III) do not. We further confirmed that this cytotoxicity of NAC/Cu(II) is attributed to reactive oxygen species (ROS). These findings indicate that the combination of Cu(II) and thiols generates cytotoxic ROS that induce apoptosis in cancer cells. They also indicate a fourth class of anti-neoplastic metal-binding compounds, the "ROS generators"" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.
• Cutting fat and calories can lower cancer risk in dogs and people - Science Daily, 7/22/10 - "As many as 1 out of 3 cancer deaths in both humans and dogs could be prevented by reducing Omega-6 fatty acids and cutting calories ... Omega-6, such as corn oil, vegetable oil and grain-fed red meat. Too much Omega-6 fatty acid can lead to inflammation, which creates an environment conducive to cancer in dogs and people ... obesity in both dogs and humans limits the production of adiponectin, a hormone that has been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth. He recommended reducing calories, particularly those from sugar, which has the additional danger of not only causing obesity, but also feeding cancer cells and encouraging their growth ... the ideal blend of fiber for dog food is about 75 to 80 percent insoluble and 20 to 25 percent soluble. In addition, adding quality prebiotics to pet foods can enhance their gut health"
• Short Telomeres Tied to Cancer Risk - Medscape, 7/9/10 - "short telomere length was associated with a 60% increased risk for subsequent cancer"
• HDL Cholesterol and Cancer - Medscape, 6/15/10 - "even after adjustment for multiple variables, there was a 36% lower risk of cancer for every 10-mg/dL increase in HDL cholesterol" - See niacin at Amazon.com.
• Researchers fishing for cancer cure discover active DHA derivatives - Science Daily, 3/1/10 - "Results showed that DHA killed the cancer cells, but that the toxic derivatives produced by DHA were even more effective at killing the cancer cells. This suggests that DHA could become a new agent for treating neuroblastoma and possibly many other cancers" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Improved Survival in Patients with End-stage Cancer Treated with Coenzyme Q(10) and Other Antioxidants: a Pilot Study - J Int Med Res. 2009;37(6):1961-1971 - "This pilot study evaluated the survival of patients with end-stage cancer who received supplements of coenzyme Q(10) and a mixture of other antioxidants (e.g. vitamin C, selenium, folic acid and beta-carotene) ... Median predicted survival was 12 months (range 3 - 29 months), whereas median actual survival was 17 months (1 - 120 months), which is > 40% longer than the median predicted survival. Mean actual survival was 28.8 months versus 11.9 months for mean predicted survival. Ten patients (24%) survived for less time than predicted, whereas 31 (76%) survived for longer. Treatments were very well tolerated with few adverse effects" - See ubiquinol products at Amazon.com.
• The 10t,12c isomer of conjugated linoleic acid inhibits fatty acid synthase expression and enzyme activity in human breast, colon, and prostate cancer cells - Nutr Cancer. 2010;62(1):116-21 - "We first confirmed and extended the results of others showing that the inhibitory action of CLA on proliferation is dependent on the cell type as well as the structure of the isomer, the 10,12 isomer being a more potent inhibitor than the 9,11 isomer in the concentration range 25-100 microM. By Western analysis, we showed that 10,12 CLA downregulated FAS expression in all of the cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner, but the 9,11 isomer had no effect. Both isomers inhibited FAS enzyme activity, but 10,12 CLA was again more potent than the 9,11 isomer. Our results suggest that downregulation of FAS by 10,12 CLA, but not by the 9,11 isomer, as well as inhibition of FAS enzyme activity by both isomers, may contribute to growth inhibition of cancer cells but only at relatively high concentrations" - Note:  I wish they would state brand names instead of leaving the reader with trying to figure which brand correlates with which isomers.  See conjugated linoleic acid at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D Supplementation and Cancer Prevention - Medscape, 12/8/09 - "The relative risk for the development of cancer at the study's end was 0.402 for the calcium plus vitamin D group (P = .013) and 0.532 for the calcium-only group (P = .063) ... This translated to a predicted 35% reduced risk of cancer for every 25-nmol/L (10-ng/mL) increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The authors concluded that improving vitamin D nutritional status substantially reduced all-cancer risk in postmenopausal women and that baseline and treatment-induced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were strong predictors of cancer risk" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Resveratrol Modulates Tumor Cell Proliferation and Protein Translation via SIRT1-Dependent AMPK Activation - J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Nov 20 - "Similar to those effects associated with caloric restriction (CR), resveratrol has multiple beneficial activities, such as increased life span and delay in the onset of diseases associated with aging ... Here, we show that resveratrol activated AMPK in both ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells ... Here, we show that resveratrol activated AMPK in both ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells. Once activated, AMPK inhibited 4E-BP1 signaling and mRNA translation via mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Moreover, we also found that AMPK activity mediated by resveratrol in cancer cells was due to inducing the expression of Sirtuin type 1 (SIRT1) via elevation in the cellular NAD(+)/NADH in ER-positive cells. To our knowledge, we demonstrate here for the first time that resveratrol induces the expression of SIRT1 protein in human cancer cells. These observations raise the possibility that SIRT1 functions as a novel upstream regulator for AMPK signaling and may additionally modulate tumor cell proliferation. Targeting SIRT1/AMPK signaling by resveratrol may have potential therapeutic implications for cancer and age-related diseases" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase, an Immunomodulatory Protein, Is Suppressed by (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate via Blocking of gamma-Interferon-Induced JAK-PKC-delta-STAT1 Signaling in Human Oral Cancer Cells - J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Nov 24 - "In this study, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major constituent of green tea, is found to significantly inhibit the expression of IDO in human oral cancer cell lines ... This study indicates that EGCG is a potential drug for immune and target therapy to enhance cancer therapy by increasing antitumor immunity" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• HDL Cholesterol Inversely Associated With Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 11/16/09 - "The investigators found a significant inverse relationship between baseline HDL-C levels and the rate of incident cancer, reporting that every 10 mg/dL increase in HDL-C was associated with a 24% (95% CI: 1%-41%) relative reduction in the cancer rate ... They also found a significant inverse relationship between baseline LDL-C and the rate of incident cancer, with every 10-mg/dL reduction in LDL-C associated with a 14% (95% CI: 9%-18%) relative increase in the cancer rate ... There was a significant direct relationship between both age and BMI and rate of incident cancer, with every 5-year increase in age associated with a 28% (95% CI: 16%-42%) relative increase in cancer (P < .001) and every 1-kg/m2 increase in BMI associated with an 18% (95% CI: 6%-31%) relative increase in the cancer rate"
• Link Between Alcohol And Cancer Explained: Alcohol Activates Cellular Changes That Make Tumor Cells Spread - Science Daily, 10/26/09
• Diabetes Drug Fights Breast Cancer - WebMD, 9/14/09 - "And in mice carrying human breast cancers, metformin made standard chemotherapy vastly more effective. Mice treated with the combination remain cancer-free for four months, unlike mice treated with either drug alone ... A lot of data shows lower cancer risk -- not just breast cancer -- in people taking metformin for diabetes ... This drug at low doses can be considered a very good candidate for cancer prevention before a person has any cancer at all" - Note:  I've been taking metformin for years for anti-aging.  See my Insulin and Aging page.  See metformin at IAS.
• Natural Compounds, Chemotherapeutic Drugs May Become Partners In Cancer Therapy - Science Daily, 9/7/09 - "New research shows that chlorophyllin -- a water-soluble derivative of chlorophyll, the green pigment found in most plants -- may be 10 times more potent at killing colon cancer cells than hydroxyurea, a chemotherapeutic drug commonly used in cancer treatment" - See chlorophyllin at Amazon.com.
• Red-wine Polyphenol Called Resveratrol Demonstrates Significant Health Benefits - Science Daily, 6/11/09 - "The breadth of benefits is remarkable – cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more ... Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemoprevention as well as cardioprotection ... The simplest explanation is that resveratrol turns on the cell's own survival pathways, preventing damage to individual cells ... Further mechanisms help, including removing very reactive oxidants in the body and improving blood supply to cells ... Low doses of resveratrol improve cell survival as a mechanism of cardio- and neuro-protection, while high doses increase cell death" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• New Model Of Cancer Development: Low Vitamin D Levels May Have Role - Science Daily, 5/22/09 - "previous theories linking vitamin D to certain cancers have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies ... Vitamin D may halt the first stage of the cancer process by re-establishing intercellular junctions in malignancies having an intact vitamin D receptor ... Vitamin D levels can be increased by modest supplementation with vitamin D3 in the range of 2000 IU/day" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Naturally Occurring Compounds Selectively Deplete Mutant P53 In Tumor Cells - Science Daily, 4/20/09 - "This study demonstrates for the first time that phenethyl isothiocyante (PEITC), a naturally-occurring compound, can selectively deplete mutant p53. The authors also made an intriguing observation that the depletion of mutant p53 in human cancer cells is accompanied by restoration of the wild type p53. PEITC is a member of the isothiocyanate family compounds found in cruciferous vegetables, such as watercress, broccoli and cabbage. PEITC has been shown to have cancer preventive activity"
• Omega-3 Kills Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "Docosahexanoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oils, has been shown to reduce the size of tumours and enhance the positive effects of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, while limiting its harmful side effects ... at the molecular level, DHA acts by reducing leukocytosis (white blood cell accumulation), systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress – all processes that have been linked with tumour growth" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Health Benefits, Consequences Of Folic Acid Dependent On Circumstances - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "Under most circumstances, adequate intake of folate appears to assume the role of a protective agent against cancer, most notably colorectal cancer. However, in select circumstances in which an individual who harbors a pre-cancerous or cancerous tumor consumes too much folic acid, the additional amounts of folate may instead facilitate the promotion of cancer"
• Tocotrienol build-up in tumours ‘critical’ for anti-cancer benefits: Study - Nutra USA, 3/31/09 - "the effects of gamma- and delta-tocotrienol on mouse cancer cells ... the diet supplemented with 0.1 per cent gamma-tocotrienol or 0.1 per cent delta-tocotrienol for four weeks ... In conclusion, our results suggested that accumulation is critical for the anti-tumour activity of tocotrienols" - [Abstract] - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.  Note:  If gamma-tocotrienol is critical for preventing cancer and alpha vitamin E (the form found nearly always in supplements) reduces the gamma, it seems like alpha vitamin E would increase cancer risks. See:
  • The response of gamma vitamin E to varying dosages of alpha vitamin E plus vitamin C - Metabolism. 2009 Apr;58(4):469-78 - "at every dose of alpha vitamin E, gamma vitamin E concentration was significantly suppressed"
  • Effect of oral supplementation with D-alpha-tocopherol on the vitamin E content of human low density lipoproteins and resistance to oxidation - J Lipid Res. 1991 Aug;32(8):1325-32 - "gamma-Tocopherol significantly decreased in plasma and LDL during vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) supplementation"
• Specific accumulation of gamma- and delta-tocotrienols in tumor and their antitumor effect in vivo - J Nutr Biochem. 2008 Sep 26 - "In C3H/HeN mice implanted with MH134, it was found that gamma-T3 and delta-T3 feeding significantly delayed tumor growth ... Intriguingly, we found that T3 was detected in tumor, but not in normal tissues. These results, to our knowledge, are the first demonstration of specific accumulation of gamma-T3 and delta-T3 in tumors and suggest that T3 accumulation is critical for the antitumor activities of T3" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Gamma-linolenic acid inhibits both tumour cell cycle progression and angiogenesis in the orthotopic C6 glioma model through changes in VEGF, Flt1, ERK1/2, MMP2, cyclin D1, pRb, p53 and p27 protein expression - Lipids Health Dis. 2009 Mar 17;8(1):8 - "Gamma-linolenic acid is a known inhibitor of tumour cell proliferation and migration in both in vitro and in vivo conditions ... Combination therapy using drugs with other, complementary targets and GLA could lead to gains in treatment efficacy in this notoriously difficult to treat tumour" - See borage oil at Amazon.com.
• Support For Adjunctive Vitamin C Treatment In Cancer - Science Daily, 3/5/09 - "Challem points out two main problems with the study: the oxidized form of vitamin C (dehydroascorbic acid) and not actual vitamin C (ascorbic acid) was used; and in the mouse experiments, the animals were given toxic doses of dehydroascorbic acid, a compound that is not used as a dietary supplement in humans ... This study and the subsequent headlines [it generated] were a grievous disservice to physicians and patients with cancer ... considerable positive research…has shown striking benefits from high-dose vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in cancer cells and animals—and in actual human beings"
• 1 in 3 Common Cancers May Be Preventable - WebMD, 2/26/09 - "eating a nutritious diet, being physically active, and keeping body fat under control may prevent: ... 38% of breast cancers ... 45% of colorectal cancers ... 36% of lung cancers ... 39% of pancreatic cancers ... 47% of stomach cancers ... 69% of esophageal cancers ... 63% of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, or larynx ... 70% of endometrial cancers ... 24% of kidney cancers ... 21% of gallbladder cancers ... 15% of liver cancers ... 11% of prostate cancers"
• Excessive Dietary Fat Caused 300 Percent Increase in Metastasizing Tumor Cells In Animal Models - Science Daily, 2/25/09 - "Researchers at Purdue University have precisely measured the impact of a high-fat diet on the spread of cancer, finding that excessive dietary fat caused a 300 percent increase in metastasizing tumor cells in laboratory animals"
• Blueberries May Shrink Tumors in Babies - WebMD, 1/21/09 - "Mice with blood vessel tumors that were fed the blueberry extract lived twice as long as mice that did not get the substance and had tumors 60% smaller than mice that did not receive blueberry extract treatment ... Oral administration of blueberry extract represents a potential therapeutic strategy for treating endothelial cell tumors in children" - See blueberry extracts at Amazon.com.
• Broccoli Compound Targets Key Enzyme In Late-stage Cancer - Science Daily, 12/14/08 - "The new findings are the first to explain how indole-3-carbinol (I3C) stops cell growth, and thus provides the basis for designing improved versions of the chemical that would be more effective as a drug and could work against a broader range of breast as well as prostate tumors ... I3C inhibits the enzyme elastase, which at high levels in breast cancer cells heralds a poor prognosis: decreased response to chemotherapy, reduced response to endocrine treatment and reduced survival rates" - See indole 3 carbinol at Amazon.com.
  Physical Activity, Sleep May Cut Cancer Risk - WebMD, 11/17/08 - "Among the most physically active women younger than 65 -- women who reported getting about an hour a day of moderate physical activity -- cancer was 47% rarer for those who got at least seven hours of nightly sleep. Those findings held regardless of other cancer risk factors"
• Pectin Power: Why Fruits And Vegetables May Protect Against Cancer's Spread - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "They have shown that a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, binds to and is believed to inhibit galectin 3 (Gal3), a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression" - See pectin supplements at Amazon.com.
• Unpopular veggies vital for cancer protection: Study - Nutra USA, 10/7/08 - "Significant inhibition of all the cancer cell lines tested – stomach, lung, breast, kidney, skin, pancreas, prostate, and brain – was observed for all the extracts from cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and curly cabbage, and vegetables of the genus Allium, such as garlic ... These chemopreventive effects are likely related to the formation of organosulfur compounds following mechanical disruption of these vegetables, namely isothiocyanates from cruciferous and a series of allyl sulfur molecules from Allium vegetables"
• Coffee consumption and the risk of cancer: An overview - Cancer Lett. 2008 Sep 30 - "Habitual coffee drinking has been associated with a reduced risk of mortality and chronic diseases, including cancer. The favourable influence of coffee is supported by several plausible mechanisms due to the presence of a variety of biological compounds such as caffeine, diterpenes, caffeic acid, polyphenols as well as volatile aroma and heterocyclic substances. Current evidence suggests that coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of liver, kidney, and to a lesser extent, premenopausal breast and colorectal cancers, while it is unrelated to prostate, pancreas and ovary cancers. Coffee drinking may still help reduce death due to liver cancer"
• Black Raspberries Slow Cancer By Altering Hundreds Of Genes - Science Daily, 8/27/08 - "examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer ... The carcinogen affected the activity of some 2,200 genes in the animals’ esophagus in only one week, but 460 of those genes were restored to normal activity in animals that consumed freeze-dried black raspberry powder as part of their diet during the exposure"
• Mushroom extract demonstrates immunity benefits - Nutra USA, 8/25/08 - "measured the production of two cytokines – Interferon (IFN-y) and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-a) – for 30 and 60 days ... These cytokines are produced by white blood cells and used by the body to prevent the growth of abnormal and cancerous cells ... the production of IFN-y and TNF-a increased within four weeks of taking the recommended of AHCC and continued to boost the immune system for at least four weeks after AHCC consumption stopped" - See AHCC at Amazon.com.
• Dietary Supplement Use in Cancer Care: Help or Harm (.pdf) - Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2008 Aug 1;22(4):581-617 - "Immune Modulation ..."
• Vitamin C Injections Slow Tumor Growth In Mice - Science Daily, 8/4/08 - "high concentrations of ascorbate had anticancer effects in 75 percent of cancer cell lines tested, while sparing normal cells. In their paper, the researchers also showed that these high ascorbate concentrations could be achieved in people" - Note:  I was taking about 8 grams of vitamin C per day when I had neck cancer.  Maybe that's what saved me.
• Magnolia Compound Hits Elusive Target In Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 7/11/08 - "A natural compound from magnolia cones blocks a pathway for cancer growth that was previously considered "undruggable," ... has been studying the compound honokiol ... We found that it is particularly potent against tumors with activated Ras" - See honokiol at Amazon.com.
• Chinese Red Yeast Rice Is Good For Your Heart, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 6/9/08 - "a partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, Xuezhikang (XZK), reduced the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45%, revascularization (bypass surgery/angioplasty), cardiovascular mortality and total mortality by one-third and cancer mortality by two-thirds" - See red yeast rice at Amazon.com.
• Exercise Cuts Cancer Death In Men - Science Daily, 5/29/08 - "Men who walked or cycled for at least 30 minutes a day had an increased survival from cancer with 33 per cent, than the men who exercised less or did nothing at all ... a more extensive programme of walking and cycling for between 60 and 90 minutes and a day, led to a l6 per cent lower incidence of cancer. But these activities only led to a five per cent reduction in cancer rates among the men who walked or cycled for 30 minutes day, a finding which could be due to chance"
• To Block The Carcinogens, Add A Touch Of Rosemary When Grilling Meats - Science Daily, 5/21/08 - "Rosemary, a member of the mint family and a popular seasoning on its own, also has benefits as a cancer prevention agent. Apply it to hamburgers and it can break up the potentially cancer-causing compounds that can form when the meat is cooked ... Rosemary’s antioxidant content makes this method possible thanks to the presence of phenolic compounds. Those compounds – rosmarinic acid, carnosol and carnosic acid – block the HCAs before they can form during heating"
• Dietary flavonoid intake and risk of cancer in postmenopausal women: The Iowa Women's Health Study - Int J Cancer. 2008 May 19 - "After multivariable adjustment, lung cancer incidence was inversely associated with intakes of flavanones (HR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.53-0.86, all results highest vs. lowest quintile) and proanthocyanidins (HR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.57-0.97). Among current and past smokers, those with intakes in the highest quintile for flavanones (HR = 0.66; 95% CI: 0.50-0.86), and proanthocyanidins (HR = 0.66; 95% CI; 0.49-0.89) had significantly lower lung cancer incidence than those in the lowest quintile. Similar associations were not seen in never smokers. Isoflavone intake was inversely associated with overall cancer incidence (HR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.86-1.00). This study provides further support for a beneficial effect of flavonoid intake on lung cancer risk, especially among current and past smokers" - See bioflavonoids at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D and cancer: maintaining levels key to protection? - Nutra USA, 5/12/08 - "After adjusting for various potential confounding factors, the researchers report that people with the highest level of 25(OH)D (76.3 nanomoles per litre) were 55 per cent less likely to die form fatal cancer than those with the lowest levels (18.1 nmol/L)" - [Abstract] - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Low Serum Levels of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Predict Fatal Cancer in Patients Referred to Coronary Angiography - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 May 7 - "After adjustment for possible confounders, the Cox proportional hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of the fourth 25(OH)D quartile was 0.45 (0.22-0.93) when compared with the first quartile and the hazard ratio per increase of 25 nmol/L in serum 25(OH)D concentrations was 0.66 (0.49-0.89)" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Curcumin and cancer: An "old-age" disease with an "age-old" solution - Cancer Lett. 2008 May 5 - "The activity of curcumin reported against leukemia and lymphoma, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, lung cancer, melanoma, neurological cancers, and sarcoma reflects its ability to affect multiple targets. Thus an "old-age" disease such as cancer requires an "age-old" treatment" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• Low Serum Levels of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Predict Fatal Cancer in Patients Referred to Coronary Angiography - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 May 7 - "our data suggest that low levels of 25(OH)D are associated with increased risk of fatal cancer in patients referred to coronary angiography and that the maintenance of a sufficient vitamin D status might therefore be a promising approach for the prevention and/or treatment of cancer" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Multi-targeted prevention and therapy of cancer by proanthocyanidins - Cancer Lett. 2008 May 3 - "A wide variety of botanicals, mostly dietary flavonoids or polyphenolic substances, have been reported to possess substantial anti-carcinogenic and antimutagenic activities because of their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Proanthocyanidins are considered as one of them, and are abundantly available in various parts of the plants, such as fruits, berries, bark and seeds. Their modes of action were evaluated through a number of in vitro and in vivo studies which showed their potential role as anti-carcinogenic agent. We summarize and highlight the latest developments on anti-carcinogenic activities of proanthocyanidins from different sources, specifically from grape seeds, and their molecular targets, such as NF-kappaB, mitogen-activated protein kinases, PI3K/Akt, caspases, cytokines, angiogenesis and cell cycle regulatory proteins and other check points, etc. Although the bioavailability and metabolism data on proanthocyanidins is still largely unavailable, certain reports indicate that at least monomers and smaller oligomeric procyanidins are absorbed in the gut. The modulation of various molecular targets by proanthocyanidins in vitro and in vivo tumor models suggests their importance, contribution and mechanism of action to the prevention of cancers of different organs" - See grape seed extract at Amazon.com and Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.  Some say the grape seed extract if the same as Pycnogenol without the patent markup.
• Veggies, Exercise May Cut Cancer Risk - WebMD, 4/15/08 - "Overall, women who engaged in recreational exercise 30 to 150 minutes per week were 50% less likely to have breast cancer than women who exercised less than a half hour per week ... People who ate quercetin-rich foods at least four times a week, on average, were 51% less likely to have lung cancer than those who ate none"
• Extracts From Reishi Mushroom And Green Tea Shows Synergistic Effect To Slow Sarcoma - Science Daily, 4/8/08 - "Both the reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum; Lingzhi) and green tea have long held a place in traditional medicine in China and other Asian countries, for the general promotion of health and long life and for the treatment of specific diseases. More recent scientific studies have confirmed that both enhance the body¹s immune functions and hold the potential for treatment and prevention of many types of cancer" - See reishi at Amazon.com and green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Dehydroascorbic acid as an anti-cancer agent - Cancer Lett. 2008 Mar 28 - "dehydroascorbic acid has the remarkable ability to eliminate the aggressive mouse tumours, L1210, P388, Krebs sarcoma, and Ehrlich carcinoma"
  • Dehydroascorbic acid - Wikipedia - "Dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) is an oxidized form of ascorbic acid"
• Mounting Evidence Shows Red Wine Antioxidant Kills Cancer - Science Daily, 3/25/08 - "Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function ... The new study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called apoptosis, an important goal of cancer therapy" - [WebMD] - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Indole-3-carbinol as a chemopreventive and anti-cancer agent - Cancer Lett. 2008 Feb 29 - "Indole-3-carbinol and its metabolite 3,3'-diindoylmethane (DIM) target multiple aspects of cancer cell-cycle regulation and survival including Akt-NFkappaB signaling, caspase activation, cyclin-dependent kinase activities, estrogen metabolism, estrogen receptor signaling, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and BRCA gene expression. This broad spectrum of anti-tumor activities in conjunction with low toxicity underscores the translational value of indole-3-carbinol and its metabolites in cancer prevention/therapy. Furthermore, novel anti-tumor agents with overlapping underlying mechanisms have emerged via structural optimization of indole-3-carbinol and DIM, which may provide considerable therapeutic advantages over the parental compounds with respect to chemical stability and anti-tumor potency. Together, these agents might foster new strategies for cancer prevention and therapy" - See indole 3 carbinol at Amazon.com and diindolylmethane at Amazon.com.
• beta-Sitosterol induces G(2)/M arrest, endoreduplication, and apoptosis through the Bcl-2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways - Cancer Lett. 2008 Feb 29 - "beta-Sitosterol (SITO) is a potentially valuable candidate for cancer chemotherapy ... results suggest that SITO induces endoreduplication by promoting spindle microtubule dynamics through the Bcl-2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways" - See beta sitosterol at Amazon.com.
• Serum Selenium Levels and All-Cause, Cancer, and Cardiovascular Mortality Among US Adults - Arch Intern Med. 2008 Feb 25;168(4):404-10 - "we found a nonlinear association between serum selenium levels and all-cause and cancer mortality. Increasing serum selenium levels were associated with decreased mortality up to 130 ng/mL. Our study, however, raises the concern that higher serum selenium levels may be associated with increased mortality"
• A Ray Of Sunshine In The Fight Against Cancer: Vitamin D May Help - Science Daily, 2/13/08 - "It sounds too good to be true … a little inexpensive pill that could block the development of some cancers, strengthen bones, prevent multiple sclerosis and alleviate winter depression ... But it’s not science fiction. The “new aspirin” could be Vitamin D ... during the winter, Canadians take at least 1,000 units a day of Vitamin D" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• DCA or dichloroacetate for Cancer - Dr. Weil, 1/17/08
• Sunlight: Good for Bad for Cancer Risk? - WebMD, 1/7/08 - "In populations with similar skin types, the incidence of all kinds of skin cancer increases from north to south, they found ... The incidence of internal cancers -- colon, lung, breast, and prostate -- also increased from north to south. But Setlow's team found that those who lived in southern latitudes -- and who made more vitamin D from sun exposure -- were much less likely to die from those cancers than were the northern latitude residents" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Is There an Anticancer Diet? - WebMD, 12/6/07 - "Raw cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, broccoli sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower seem to reduce bladder cancer risk by about 40%"
• Chemoprevention, Naturally: Findings On Plant-derived Cancer Medicines - Science Daily, 12/6/07 - "rats fed a diet containing Polyphenon E, a standardized green tea polyphenol preparation, are less than half as likely to develop colon cancer ... After 34 weeks, rats that received Polyphenon E developed 55 percent fewer tumors compared to the control rats that did not receive Polyphenon E. Moreover, the tumors were 45 percent smaller in rats treated with green tea extract" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Diet And Cancer Prevention: New Evidence For The Protective Effects Of Fruits And Veggies - Science Daily, 12/6/07
• Night Shift Work May Cause Cancer - WebMD, 11/30/07 - "They note that shift work may raise cancer risk by suppressing production of melatonin, a chemical involved in the circadian rhythm" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.
• Molecular basis of the potential of vitamin D to prevent cancer - Curr Med Res Opin. 2007 Nov 21 - "Research strongly supports the view that efforts to improve vitamin D status would have significant protective effects against the development of cancer. The clinical research community is currently revising recommendations for optimal serum levels and for sensible levels of sun exposure, to levels greater than previously thought. Currently, most experts in the field believe that intakes of between 1000 and 4000 IU will lead to a more healthy level of serum 25(OH)D, in the range of 75 nmol/L that will offer significant protect effects against cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovary, lungs, and pancreas. The first randomized trial has shown significant protection against breast cancer, and other clinical trials will follow and ultimately lead to improved public health policies and significantly fewer cancers" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Zyflamend, a polyherbal preparation, inhibits invasion, suppresses osteoclastogenesis, and potentiates apoptosis through down-regulation of NF-kappa B activation and NF-kappa B-regulated gene products - Nutr Cancer. 2007;57(1):78-87 - "Zyflamend inhibited receptor activator of NF-kappa B ligand-induced osteoclastogenesis, suppressed tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced invasion, and potentiated the cytotoxicity induced by TNF and chemotherapeutic agents, all of which are known to require NF-kappa B activation. Zyflamend suppressed NF-kappa B activation induced by both TNF and cigarette smoke condensate. The expression of NF-kappa B-regulated gene products involved in antiapoptosis (inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein 1/2, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, FADD-like interleukin-1betaconverting enzyme/caspase-8 inhibitory protein, TNF receptor-associated factor-1, and survivin) and angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor, cyclooxygenase-2, intercellular adhesion molecule, and matrix metalloproteinase-9) was also down-regulated by Zyflamend. This correlated with potentiation of cell death induced by TNF and chemotherapeutic agents. Overall, our results indicate that Zyflamend suppresses osteoclastogenesis, inhibits invasion, and potentiates cytotoxicity through down-regulation of NF-kappa B activation and NF-kappa B-regulated gene products" - See Zyflamend at Amazon.com.
• Antioxidants Could Provide All-purpose Radiation Protection - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "Inositol and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) protected both human skin cells and a skin cancer-prone mouse from exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, the damaging radiation found in sunlight ... Twenty-three percent of treated mice developed tumors, compared to 51 percent of untreated, or control mice, which developed tumors. Moreover, the mice in the treated group that did develop cancer had only half as many tumors as the control mice" - See IP-6 products at Amazon.com.  Note:  IP-6 was one of the supplements I took when they told me I only had a small chance of survival from neck cancer.  Click here for the full story.  I still take it.
• Extra Weight = Extra Cancer Risk - WebMD, 10/31/07
• Chemical In Red Wine, Fruits And Vegetables May Stop Cancer, Heart Disease, Depending On The Dose - Science Daily, 10/30/07 - "very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols shut down and prevent cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth ... the same polyphenols play a beneficial role for those with diseased hearts and circulatory systems by facilitating blood vessel growth ... the amount of polyphenols necessary to obtain an anti-cancer effect is the equivalent of drinking about a bottle of red wine each day" - See grape seed extract at Amazon.com.
• Hypoxia enhances LPA-induced HIF-1alpha and VEGF expression: Their inhibition by resveratrol - Cancer Lett. 2007 Oct 3 - "Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive phospholipid that is involved in various cellular events, including tumor invasion and metastasis ... Collectively, these results show that LPA under hypoxic condition enhances cell migration through the sequential induction of HIF-1alpha and VEGF, and that this enhancement is efficiently blocked by resveratrol" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• How Vitamin C Stops Cancer - Science Daily, 9/10/07 - "Both of these cancers produce high levels of free radicals that can be suppressed by feeding the mice supplements of antioxidants, either vitamin C or N-acetylcysteine (NAC) ... Some rapidly growing tumors consume enough energy to easily suck out the available oxygen in their vicinity, making HIF-1 absolutely critical for their continued survival. But HIF-1 can only operate if it has a supply of free radicals. Antioxidants remove these free radicals and stop HIF-1, and the tumor, in its tracks" - See vitamin C products at Amazon.com.
• Compound In Broccoli Could Boost Immune System, Says Study - Science Daily, 8/20/07 - "This study shows that there is a whole new universe of cancer regulation related to DIM ... There are virtually no other agents known that can both directly shut down the growth of cancer cells and enhance the function of the immune system at the same time" - See diindolylmethane at Amazon.com.
• Coenzyme Q10 Summary - U. of Texas Alternative Medicine - See ubiquinol at Amazon.com.
• Green Tea Boosts Production Of Detox Enzymes, Rendering Cancerous Chemicals Harmless - Science Daily, 8/10/07 - "In a study of 42 people, the concentrate -- composed of chemicals known as green tea catechins in amounts equal to that found in 8-16 cups of green tea -- boosted production of the enzymes, which belong to the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family, by as much as 80 percent in some participants ... GST enzymes are believed to be crucial to the body's defense against cancer-causing chemicals and other toxins, according to the study's lead investigator, H.-H. Sherry Chow, Ph.D., a research associate professor at the University of Arizona. They modify the cancer-causing molecules that would otherwise damage cellular DNA, thus rendering them inert" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.  My favorite is green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1586-91 - "Improving calcium and vitamin D nutritional status substantially reduces all-cancer risk in postmenopausal women"
• Cancer Benefit From Vitamin D? - WebMD, 6/8/07 - "Women in the four-year study took 1,500 milligrams of calcium supplementation either alone or with 1,100 International Units (IU) of vitamin D each day ... women who took both supplements wound up with nearly 60% less risk of cancers at the end of the study compared with women who took placebo" - vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Ginseng May Relieve Cancer Fatigue - WebMD, 6/4/07
• Can Aspirin Help Keep Cancer At Bay? - Science Daily, 4/16/07 - "those who said they regularly used aspirin had a 16 percent reduced risk of developing cancer more than a decade later, as well as a 13 percent reduced risk of dying from cancer over this same time period, compared to women who did not use aspirin. But there was no statistically significant impact on cancer incidence or mortality among women who used non-aspirin NSAIDs"
• Broccoli, soy anti-cancer benefits suggested - Nutra USA, 4/16/07 - "this attraction between CXCR4 and CXCL12 draws cancer cells to the organs they spread to ... exposure with either DIM or genistein cut movement by 80 per cent"
• DCA: Cancer Breakthrough or Urban Legend? - ABC News, 2/5/07 - "In one group of rats where DCA was given after the injected tumors had been allowed to grow, the tumors immediately (in the authors' words) decreased in size"
• Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers -  New Scientist, 1/23/07
• A Curry A Day Keeps The Doctor Away? - Science Daily, 1/11/07 - "the chemical compound capsaicin -- which is responsible for the burning sensation when we eat chillies -- can kill cells by directly targeting their energy source ... It could mean that patients could control or prevent the onset of cancer by eating a diet rich in capsaicin" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• Body Composition May Be Key Player In Controlling Cancer Risks - Science Daily, 1/3/07 - "This study suggests that body composition, being lean as opposed to being obese, has a greater protective effect against cancer"
• More evidence for tea’s anticancer potential - Nutra USA, 12/21/06
• Research shows benefits of cranberries -MSNBC, 11/20/06 - "Cranberries may prevent tumors from growing rapidly or starting in the first place ..." - See cranberry supplements at Amazon.com.
• Onion and garlic use and human cancer - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Nov;84(5):1027-32 - "The multivariate ORs for the highest category of onion and garlic intake were, respectively, 0.16 and 0.61 for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 0.12 and 0.43 for esophageal cancer, 0.44 and 0.74 for colorectal cancer, 0.17 and 0.56 for laryngeal cancer, 0.75 and 0.90 for breast cancer, 0.27 and 0.78 for ovarian cancer, 0.29 and 0.81 for prostate cancer, and 0.62 and 0.69 for renal cell cancer" - See garlic supplements at Amazon.com.
• Aspirin May Be Newest Cancer Drug - WebMD, 10/2/06 - "In test-tube studies, the researchers find that aspirin does what some of the most cutting-edge new anticancer drugs do. It seems to keep newborn cancers from growing the blood vessels they need to become full-blown tumors -- a process called angiogenesis ... anticancer effect may not be due to blocking Cox enzymes at all" - See aspirin at Amazon.com.

Other News:

• Statin use and reduced cancer-related mortality - N Engl J Med. 2012 Nov 8 - "Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for statin users, as compared with patients who had never used statins, were 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 0.87) for death from any cause and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.82 to 0.87) for death from cancer"
• Cancer mortality according to lipid-lowering drugs and lipoproteins in a general population - Curr Med Res Opin. 2011 Sep 7 - "The beneficial effect of lipid-lowering drugs (LLD) on cardiovascular risk is established, but long term safety data remain scarce. Our aim was to assess 10-year risk of cancer mortality according to blood lipoprotein levels and LLD exposure, in a general population ... There were 3262 participants and 177 deaths were recorded over the 10-year period (78 due to a cancer). The sample comprised 64% of normolipidaemic, 25% of untreated dyslipidaemic and 11% of dyslipidaemic subjects treated with LLD (4% statins, 6% fibrates and 1% other hypolipidaemic drugs). After adjustment for centre, age, gender, smoking, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and mean corpuscular volume, the hazard ratios (HR) for cancer mortality in subjects with non-HDL cholesterol <3.5 mmol/L (135 mg/dL) and in those with HDL cholesterol <0.90 mmol/L (35 mg/dL) were 2.74 (95% confidence interval: 1.66-4.52, p < 0.001) and 2.83 (1.62-4.96, p < 0.001), respectively. The adjusted HR for cancer mortality was 0.31 (0.11-0.86, p = 0.025) in people on LLD compared to untreated subjects. Conclusions: In the present study, we confirm the significant association between low cholesterol and cancer mortality without finding any harmful signal regarding cancer risk associated with the use of LLD"
• New strategy for treating cancer - Science Daily, 9/5/11
• Many cancer survivors can't shake pain, fatigue, insomnia, foggy brain, study finds - Science Daily, 6/3/11
• Simple sugar, lactate, is like 'candy for cancer cells': Cancer cells accelerate aging and inflammation in the body to drive tumor growth - Science Daily, 5/26/11 - "lactate is like "candy" for cancer cells. And cancer cells are addicted to this supply of "candy." ... We've essentially shown for the first time that there is lactate shuttle in human tumors ... If lethal cancer is a disease of "accelerated aging" in the tumor's connective tissue, then cancer patients may benefit from therapy with strong antioxidants and anti-inflammatory drugs ... Antioxidant therapy will "cut off the fuel supply" for cancer cells." Antioxidants also have a natural anti-inflammatory action"
• How inflammation can lead to cancer - Science Daily, 4/19/11 - "inflammation stimulates a rise in levels of a molecule called microRNA-155 (miR-155) ... This, in turn, causes a drop in levels of proteins involved in DNA repair, resulting in a higher rate of spontaneous gene mutations, which can lead to cancer ... It is believed that cancer is caused by an accumulation of mutations in cells of the body ... Our study suggests that miR-155, which is associated with inflammation, increases the mutation rate and might be a key player in inflammation-induced cancers generally"
• Biophysicist targeting IL-6 to halt breast, prostate cancer - Science Daily, 4/19/11 - "There is an inherent connection between inflammation and cancer ... In the case of breast cancers, a medical review systematically tabulated IL-6 levels in various categories of cancer patients, all showing that IL-6 levels elevated up to 40-fold, especially in later stages, metastatic cases and recurrent cases ... The current research offers us an exciting new therapeutic paradigm: targeting tumor microenvironment and inhibiting tumor stem cell renewal, leading to a really effective way to overcome breast tumor drug resistance, inhibiting tumor metastasis and stopping tumor recurrence" - Note:  See the "Alternative News" section of my IL-6 page and my inflammation page for ways to reduce IL-6.
• Avoiding or controlling diabetes may reduce cancer risk and mortality - Science Daily, 4/3/11 - "Previous epidemiologic studies have shown an association between diabetes and an increased risk for cancers including colorectal, liver and pancreas ... As for mortality, diabetes was associated with an 11 percent increased risk in women and a 17 percent increased risk in men ... diabetes was associated with a significant increase in risk for colon, rectal and liver cancers among men and women. In men, diabetes was associated with an increased risk for pancreatic and bladder cancers; in women, it was associated with an increased risk for stomach, anal and endometrial cancers. No association was found between diabetes and lung, skin or other cancers"
• Physical symptoms prevalent no matter what stage of cancer including remission - Science Daily, 10/11/10
• Stress accelerates breast cancer progression in mice, researchers find - Science Daily, 9/15/10 - "stress is biologically reprogramming the immune cells that are trying to fight the cancer, transforming them instead from soldiers protecting the body against disease into aiders and abettors. The study found a 30-fold increase in cancer spread throughout the bodies of stressed mice compared to those that were not stressed ... Beta blockers, used in this study to shut down the stress pathways in the mice, are currently being examined in several large breast cancer databases for their role in potential prevention of recurrence and cancer spread ... using beta blockers in stressed mice prevented the same cancer progression seen in the stressed mice that did not receive medication"
• Probability of surviving nine types of cancer analyzed - Science Daily, 7/15/10
• Experts explore emerging evidence linking diabetes and cancer - Science Daily, 6/16/10 - "Possible mechanisms for a direct link between diabetes and cancer include hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, and inflammation"
• New cancer vaccine starves tumours of blood - Science Daily, 5/24/10
• The impact of alcohol consumption on the risk of cancer among men: A 20-year follow-up study from Finland - Eur J Cancer. 2010 May 3 - "About 6.7% of the cancer cases in this cohort were due to alcohol consumption"
• Excessive alcohol consumption may lead to increased cancer risk - Science Daily, 4/21/10 - "Researchers have detected a link between alcohol consumption, cancer and aging that starts at the cellular level with telomere shortening ... Telomeres are found at the region of DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, and are important for the genetic stability of cells. As people age, telomere length shortens progressively ... Since telomere shortening is thought to increase cancer risk, the researchers speculated that those with shorter telomeres due to heavy alcohol consumption would have an increased risk of cancer ... telomere length was dramatically shortened in those who consumed heavy amounts of alcohol; telomere length was nearly half as long as telomere length in the non-abusers (0.41 vs. 0.79 relative units)"
• Insulin used to treat diabetes may be linked to increased cancer risk, review suggests - Science Daily, 3/2/10 - "Research suggests that metformin, which is used to treat some patients with diabetes, may provide a protective effect, while insulin and/or certain insulin analogues may promote tumour growth ... Diabetic patients were 30 per cent more likely to develop colorectal cancer ... Women with diabetes had a 20 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer ... People with diabetes had an 82 per cent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer" -  Note:  See my Insulin and Aging page.  I think it's like what came first the chicken or the egg.  I don't believe they know whether it's the insulin or the high blood sugar.  This seems to support that it's the high insulin.
• Increased Cancer Risk Seen With Higher Blood Glucose Levels - Medscape, 1/28/10 - "in men, each 1 mmol/L (18 mg/dL) increment in blood glucose level was associated with a 5% increase in incident cancer risk and a 15% increase in fatal cancer risk ... In women, each 1 mmol/L increase in blood glucose level was associated with an 11% increase in incident cancer risk and a 21% increase in fatal cancer risk ... For men, there were glucose-related increases in the risks of incident and fatal cancer of the liver, gallbladder, and respiratory tract; incident thyroid cancer and multiple myeloma; and fatal rectal and colon cancer .... For women, there were glucose-related increases in the risks of incident and fatal pancreatic and stomach cancer; incident urinary bladder cancer and endometrial cancer; and fatal cervical and uterine corpus cancer. In women, there was also an inverse association of blood glucose with incident thyroid cancer risk ... For men and women combined, higher glucose increased the risk of death from oropharyngeal and esophageal cancers"
• Metformin associated with lower cancer mortality in type 2 diabetes (ZODIAC-16) - Diabetes Care. 2009 Nov 16 - "Median follow-up time was 9.6 years, average age at baseline was 68 years, and average HbA1c was 7.5%. Five hundred seventy patients died, of which 122 from malignancies. SMR for cancer mortality was 1.47 (95%CI 1.22-1.76). In patients taking metformin compared to patients not taking metformin at baseline, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for cancer mortality was 0.43 (95%CI 0.23-0.80), and the HR with every increase of 1 gram of metformin was 0.58 (95%CI 0.36-0.93) ... In general, patients with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for cancer mortality. In our group, metformin use was associated with lower cancer mortality when compared to non-metformin use. Although the design cannot be conclusive about causality, our results suggest a protective effect of metformin on cancer mortality"
• Low Cholesterol May Be Marker of Undiagnosed Cancer - Medscape, 11/5/09 - "This finding supports the idea that the low serum cholesterol levels that we detected as a possible risk factor may actually have been the result of undiagnosed cancers," he added. "In addition, we observed a greater decline in total serum cholesterol from baseline to 3 years, specifically among the cases that were diagnosed in the early half of the observation, as opposed to the latter portion ... higher HDL cholesterol levels were associated with a decreased risk for cancer (>55.3 vs <36.2 mg/dL; RR for the highest vs the lowest quintile, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.83 - 0.97; P = .01). This inverse association of HDL cholesterol was evident for cancers of the lung, prostate, liver, and hematopoietic system"
• Cholesterol-lowering Medicines May Be Effective Against Cancer - Science Daily, 11/2/09 - "Our results support the idea that statins can be used in more ways than just to lower cholesterol," says Pilon. "Not least that they can prevent the growth of cancer cells caused by lipid-modified proteins, but also that they can be effective in the treatment of diabetes and neurological disorders such as Parkinson's."
• Diabetes Drug Shows Promise In Fighting Lethal Cancer Complication - Science Daily, 9/24/09 - "in an animal study, a diabetes drug that promotes insulin sensitivity slowed the progression of muscle wasting and fat loss, the main consequences of a syndrome called cachexia ... Research suggests that cachexia is responsible for between one-fifth and one-third of all cancer deaths ... These data provide evidence that in mice with colon cancer tumors, insulin resistance may be involved in the development of cachexia rather than occur as a result of cachexia ... Within eight days, the mice with cancer receiving the rosiglitazone showed more sensitivity to insulin than did the mice with tumors that received no medication. The insulin sensitivity of the medicated mice matched that of mice without tumors ... In addition to stopping fat and muscle loss, the rosiglitazone also dramatically reduced two biological markers present when proteins break down, particularly in muscles, and a third marker that indicates cells are eating their own amino acids in an attempt to survive" - Note:  I don't know why they did this study with rosiglitazone.  That's the one that may be connected to heart disease.  Pioglitazone is the same class of drug and is not connected to heart disease.  I take it for anti-aging also.  See my Insulin and Aging page.
• Depression Increases Cancer Patients' Risk Of Dying - Science Daily, 9/15/09
• New users of metformin are at low risk of incident cancer: A cohort study among people with type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2009 Jun 29 - "Activation of AMPK can suppress tumour formation and inhibit cell growth, in addition to lowering blood glucose levels. We tested the hypothesis that metformin reduces the risk of cancer in people with type 2 diabetes ... Cancer was diagnosed among 7.3% of 4,085 metformin users compared with 11.6% of 4,085 comparators, with median times to cancer of 3.5 years and 2.6 years respectively (p < 0.001). The unadjusted hazard ratio for cancer was 0.46 (0.40-0.53). After adjusting for sex, age, BMI, HbA1c, deprivation, smoking and other drug use, there was still a significantly reduced risk of cancer associated with metformin: 0.63 (0.53-0.75)" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Common Diabetes Drug May 'Revolutionize' Cancer Therapies: Unexpected T-cell Breakthrough - Science Daily, 6/4/09 - "We used metformin, which is known to operate on fatty-acid metabolism, to enhance this process, and have shown experimentally in mice that metformin increases T-cell memory as well as the ensuing protective immunity of an experimental anti-cancer vaccine"
• 'Cancer hope' from diabetes drug - BBC News, 6/3/09 - "Tests on mice found metformin, used for Type 2 diabetes, helps the body's T-cells work more effectively"
• Personalized Medicine Helps Cancer Patients Survive - Science Daily, 4/19/09
• Procedure Improves Health Of Cancer Patients - Science Daily, 4/1/09
• New Anti-cancer Drug: 200 Times More Active In Killing Tumor Cells - Science Daily, 3/25/09 - "In humans, compounds like BPH-715 and zoledronate have an added benefit in fighting cancer: They spur the proliferation of immune cells called gamma delta T-cells, which aid in killing tumor cells ... The new drugs are about 200 times more effective than the drugs used in recent clinical trials at killing tumor cells and in activating gamma delta T-cells to kill tumor cells ... They also prevent tumor progression in mice much better than do existing bisphosphonate molecules" - Note:  I sounds like hope with terminal cancer, something I was looking for when they inaccurately told me I had terminal neck cancer.
• 'Miracle Dog' Beats Aggressive Cancer - WebMD, 3/23/09 - "the drug is made of a cancer-killing substance called nitric oxide, which is attached to vitamin B12. Substances called receptors on a cell's surface attract the vitamin and help it enter the cell. Cancer cells grow abnormally fast with extra B12 receptors. NO-Cbl spots these receptors, sneaks into cancer cells, and releases the nitric oxide, which kills the cancer cells from within"
• Million Women Study Shows Even Moderate Alcohol Consumption Associated With Increased Cancer Risk - Science Daily, 2/24/09 - "Low to moderate alcohol consumption among women is associated with a statistically significant increase in cancer risk and may account for nearly 13 percent of the cancers of the breast, liver, rectum, and upper aero-digestive tract combined"
• ACE Inhibitors May Protect Diabetics From Cancer, Peptic Ulcer - Medscape, 12/19/08 - "There was a significant association between ACE inhibitor use and the risk for cancer, with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.59 ... The rate of cancer among users of ACE inhibitors was 10% vs 15% for nonusers ... There was also a significant association between ACE inhibitor use and peptic ulcer disease, with an odds ratio of 0.68 ... The rate of peptic ulcer disease among ACE inhibitor users was 12% vs 16% among nonusers"
• Key Mechanism Behind Cancer Spread Is Explained - Science Daily, 10/30/08
• Severe Stress More Common Among Long-term Cancer Survivors - Science Daily, 9/23/08
• Palms Can Foretell Cancer - WebMD, 9/23/08 - "The symptoms: curling or thickening of the palm with swelling of the fingers, making the hand look wooden. It's called PFPAS -- palmar fasciitis and polyarthritis syndrome"
• Untapped Potential Of Antidepressants For Cancer - Science Daily, 9/11/08 - "Antidepressants work by affecting levels of chemicals known as prostaglandins. These are ephemeral, infinitesimal signallers self-regulating every cell in the body, including those serving mood and immunity ... Prostaglandins are responsible, paradoxically, for both cell function and dysfunction. Excessive prostaglandin synthesis depresses immune function and may induce cancer ... An ideal anticancer agent would inhibit prostaglandins in such a manner as to shut down the pathogenesis of cancer. The article indicates that antidepressants have such properties"
• How Cancer Cells Come Unstuck And Spread - Science Daily, 8/21/08
• Modafinil Reduces Severe Cancer Fatigue - Clinical Psychiatry News, 8/08 - "Among those with severe fatigue at baseline, patients on modafinil had significantly greater reductions in fatigue, compared with those on placebo" - See modafinil at International Anti-aging Systems.
• Overcoming Resistance To A Cancer Drug - Science Daily, 6/24/08
• New Cancer Treatment Targets Both Tumor Cells And Blood Vessels - Science Daily, 6/18/08
• Treatment Can Make Cancer Stronger - WebMD, 6/10/08 - "About half of patients are cured -- that is, all of their tumor cells die ... The other half of the time, some tumor cells survive treatment. These cancer cells are more aggressive than they were before treatment"
• Narcolepsy Drug Fights Cancer Fatigue - WebMD, 6/4/08 - "The narcolepsy drug Provigil may help to relieve the debilitating fatigue often experienced by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy ... patients taking the drug who had the most severe fatigue at the beginning of the study demonstrated significant improvement, compared with those in the placebo group" - See Provigil (modafinil) at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Link Between Inflammation, Cancer Confirmed - Science Daily, 6/2/08 - "Chronic inflammation of the intestine or stomach can damage DNA, increasing the risk of cancer ... Researchers have long known that inflammation produces cytokines (immune response chemicals that encourage cell proliferation and suppress cell death), which can lead to cancer"
• The Good And Bad Side Of Anti-cancer Compounds - Science Daily, 4/10/08