A new study seems to give us one of those “I knew that” kind of feelings. As bad as cancer is to those affected, often they are preventable. A new study out today shows that things like smoking, bad diet, lack of exercise, dangerous environment can all lead to cancers that are preventable

About 80 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in the elderly, and more than 80 percent of known risk factors are potentially preventable, U.S. researchers say.

Igor Akushevich of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said the primary purpose of the study was to develop an approach to estimate the contributions of measurable risk factors to cancer risk among the elderly.

“So far, we have not come to the stage where we are able to make specific recommendations regarding risk factors,” Akushevich said in a statement. “However, we can confirm several of them which are known. As expected, we see associations of cigarette smoking with lung cancer.”

The researchers said they were surprised at some of the findings. Cancer risk was not associated with alcohol consumption, as reported in other studies. A possible explanation may be that those age 65 or older tend to drink moderately. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks for visiting. To get started why not subscribe to the 21 day fitness plan at the top of this page. Look in the red box, it is right there.. Thanks Bill

Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman’s overall risk of cancer – but only if she gets a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise’s cancer prevention benefits.

“Greater participation in physical activity has consistently been associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence at several sites, including breast and colon cancers,” said James McClain, Ph.D., cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. “Short duration sleep appears to have opposing effects of physical activity on several key hormonal and metabolic parameters, which is why we looked at how it affected the exercise/cancer risk relationship.”

Even though the exact mechanism of how exercise reduces cancer risk isn’t known, researchers believe that physical activity’s effects on factors including hormone levels, immune function, and body weight may play an important role. The study examined the link between exercise and cancer risk, paying special attention to whether or not getting adequate sleep further affected a women’s cancer risk. Read the rest of this entry »

The diabetes rates in the US seem to have doubled in just the last 10 years with almost 1 in 10 people nationwide having diabetes.

The incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. nearly doubled in the last 10 years, with the south especially hard hit, according to the CDC.

The age-adjusted annual incidence of diabetes was 9.1 per 1,000 adults in 2005 to 2007, up from 4.8 per 1,000 in 1995 to 1997, reported Karen Kirtland, Ph.D., of the Division of Diabetes Translation, and colleagues in the Oct. 31 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“Development and delivery of interventions that promote weight loss and increased physical activity among persons at high risk for diabetes are needed to reduce diabetes incidence,” according to an editors’ comment in MMWR.

“Also needed are public health interventions, including environmental and policy changes (e.g., creating or enhancing parks, walking trails, and access to healthier foods) that encourage healthy lifestyles and maintenance of healthy weight to pre­vent obesity and reduce the risk for diabetes.”

The report included diabetes incidence data for 33 states that collected data during both time periods in CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago I got my annual Flu Shot. I know that some people do not bother with a flu shot because let’s face it no one wants to get a shot and every year people still get the flu even when they get a shot.

Well let me tell you, the flu shot is worth getting, most of the time out of the multiple strains of the flu out there the scientists get the flu shot just right to stop many of us from getting sick later in the fall and Winter

With flu season on the way, Google unveiled a new tool Tuesday dubbed Google Flu Trends, through the company’s philanthropic wing, Google.org. The new Web tool takes data from search queries and crunches the information to paint a real-time picture of the level of influenza infection in a given area of the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

I got my flu shot last week and I know that many people are nervous about getting a flu shot, let’s face it no one wants to get a shot just because it “might” help them stay healthy, but it really is important.

Studies show that even though a lot of press is made about the flu shot occasionally not being formulated to hit the right flu virus, more often than not the researchers are right on and a lot of sickness is avoided by getting a simple flu shot.

The flu shot may not just protect against influenza. A new study suggests it may also reduce the risk of developing a blood clot by as much as 26 per cent.

Researchers from the University Paris Descartes found that the flu shot was equally effective against two types of blood clots: deep vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in the leg, and pulmonary embolism, which is a clot in the lung.

A blood clot can be fatal if it breaks loose, travels through the bloodstream and reaches the lungs.

The research, which included more than 1,400 patients, also found that the flu shot: Read the rest of this entry »

I was at the supermarket yesterday and while looking at the magazines I saw that Barack Obama was on the cover of one of the fitness magazines, I almost bought it to see why he would be on the cover but didn’t. I am still thinking about it today so I guess maybe I should go and pick it up this afternoon.

Anyway, back in May, Men’s Fitness magazine named Barack Obama one of its “25 Fittest” describing how Obama starts every day with a workout and generally skips fatty foods.

The magazine quotes former Duke University player and Obama staffer Reggie Love on the president-elect’s backetball skills “He’s wiry-looking but actually pretty strong,” Reggie said. “And he hates losing. He plays hard.”

Fitness advocates hope Barack can inspire Americans to get active just as he inspired young people, minorities and those who never voted to go to the polls. Read the rest of this entry »

Brisk walking, jogging and weight training are the most effective forms of exercise to improve bone and muscle strength, Australian experts say on World Osteoporosis Day.

It is estimated that one in two women and one in three men over the age of 60 in Australia will suffer a fracture related to osteoporosis - the loss of bone tissue - research from the University of Melbourne shows.

However, regular exercise can reduce that fracture risk by up to 50 per cent. Read the rest of this entry »

Just noticed that the FDA started a page this week to warn consumers as well as the health care professionals that serve them to help with drug safety.

As you know there is a lot of concern about drug interactions and you need to be careful about these interactions as well as concern over labeling that may not be clear enough. Here are a few things that the FDA will be helping warn us about.

• Drug labeling, including patient labeling, professional labeling, and patient package inserts;
• Drugs that have a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to ensure that their benefits outweigh their risks;
• A searchable database of postmarket studies that are required from, or agreed to by, drug companies to provide the FDA with additional information about a drug’s safety, efficacy, or optimal use;
• Clinicaltrials.gov, a searchable database of clinical trials, including information about each trial’s purpose, who may participate, locations, and useful phone numbers;
• Drug-specific safety information, including safety sheets with the latest information about the drug as well as related FDA press announcements, fact sheets, and drug safety podcasts;
• Quarterly reports that list certain drugs that are being evaluated for potential safety issues, based on a review of information in the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS);
• Warning Letters, Import Alerts, Recalls, Market Withdrawals, and Safety Alerts;
• Regulations and guidance documents;
• Consumer information about using medications safely and disposing of unused medicines;
• Instructions how to report problems to the FDA through its MedWatch program;
• Consumer articles on drug safety; and
• The FDA’s response to the Institute of Medicine’s 2006 report on the future of drug safety.

You cn get to the new site at FDA Drug safety.

I have always fought with the idea of weather to stay home from work when sick. Some companies are very progressive with this and others not so much. In my workplace it is expected that if you are sick you stay home and if you are well enough to work but nervous about getting people sick then you just telecommute (freedom of being an IT guy)

To help you decide, Sharon Horesh, MD, instructor of clinical medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, gives her advice.

Just keep this in mind: “There’s no antibiotic that can get rid of the common cold or flu or stomach virus,” says Horesh . “That’s my pet peeve … antibiotics only work with a bacterial infection … bacterial bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, earache, pink eye.”

Also, be careful about which medications you take for the common cold, says Nathan Segall, MD, a private practice allergy specialist in Atlanta. Read the rest of this entry »

A little exercise goes a long way toward helping severely obese individuals improve their quality of life and complete important daily tasks, according to researchers at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center.

In a pre-program assessment where patients reported, on average, just under one hour of exercise per week, individuals who were more active reported better overall-quality of life. They also reported improvements in their ability to perform daily tasks as measured on a physical functioning scale.

“Things that many people take for granted like tying one’s shoes, getting dressed, or simply moving around were easier for those who reported routine exercise,” says Martin Binks, PhD, research director at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, a residential weight loss program at Duke University Medical Center. He presented the research, which included more than 1,200 participants, at the Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Phoenix AZ. Read the rest of this entry »