Lack of Sleep and Breast Cancer

Adequate restful sleep is more and more being recognized as an important factor for maintaining good health. A recent study published in the August issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment found that a lack of sleep is associated with more aggressive breast cancers. The study was conducted on 101 women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Having fewer than 7 hours of sleep a night during the 2 years before the diagnosis was associated with a greater risk for recurrence. This association was really only strong in post-menopausal women. Although the study was small, it does add to other literature supporting the importance of enough sleep in preventing serious illness. 

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Chocolate and Nobel Laureates

You can't have enough chocolate articles! A note in the October 10 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine found an association between how much chocolate a country's inhabitants consume and the number of Nobel laureates is produces: the more chocolate consumed, the more Nobel prizes awarded. Some research has shown chocolate to improve cognitive functioning. So now we have even more reason to eat chocolate!

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Lifestyle Changes and Cancer

A presentation by Graham Colditz, PD, DrPH, from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri at the Union for International Cancer Control World Cancer Congress 2012 emphasized that lifestyle changes could prevent many cancers. 1/3 of cancer in high-income countries is caused by smoking. If smoking rates could be reduced to the current levels in Utah (11%), the US could see a 75% reduction in smoking-related cancers in 10-20 years. If people could maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI), in the case of cancer it is between 21-23 kg/m2, the incidence of cancer could be reduced by about 50% in 2 to 20 years. He estimated that poor diet and lack of exercise are each associated with about 5% of all cancers. He said that improvement in diet could reduce cancer incidence by 50% and increases in physical activity could reduce cancer incidence by as much as 85% in 5 - 20 years. 

If pills could have this kind of effectiveness, imagine the marketing campaign!

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Tomatoes and Stroke

A study published in the October 9 issue of Neurology found that a diet high in lycopene, found in high amounts in tomatoes, was associated with a lower risk of stroke in Finnish men. Associations are not causes and there are many reasons that a diet high in tomatoes would prevent stroke. People who eat a lot of tomatoes may also be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables in general, rather than meats. That aside, lycopene, which gives the tomato its red color, is a terrific antioxidant and therefore can keep the blood vessels healthy. 

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Sitting and Diabetes Risk

 A new meta-analysis by researchers in the UK and published in the November 2012 issue of Diabetologia found a strong relationship between sitting and diabetes. Prolonged sitting was also shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, but the relationship was most robust with diabetes. It is not enough to just get in your 30 minutes of exercise a day. Continued sitting throughout the day appears to have an effect on how our bodies metabolize glucose. We are not using our muscles enough to use the glucose in our system. The pancreas secretes more insulin, and the cells start becoming insulin resistant. Health problems arise both from high glucose levels and from high insulin levels. 

Another aspect of all of this is that people who sit after eating have a 24% higher glucose level than people who walk very slowly after a meal. This is certainly something to think about after Thanksgiving!

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NSAIDs and Hearing Loss in Women

A study published recently in American Journal of Epidemiology found that consuming ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but not aspirin, more than twice a week chronically increases the risk for hearing loss in women. Other studies have found this association in men. It has also long been known that acute high doses of aspirin may cause tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. Rather than chronically ingesting ibuprofen or acetaminophen, it would be wise to figure out what is causing the inflammation and/or pain and deal with that. There are also several nutritional ways to lower inflammation, without resorting to drugs. A diet high in plant-based foods and fish and low in sugar, trans- and saturated- fats, and animals products is considered and anti-inflammatory diet.

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