9 minutes ago
(HealthDay News) -- The death of a pet is a significant loss to every member of the family, but it can be particularly difficult for young children.
Here are suggestions to help your child deal with the loss of a pet, courtesy of the Nemours Foundation:
* Explain to her that it's normal to feel sadness, anger, frustration and even guilt.
* Let her see that you are sad and upset too, and that it's OK to cry -- don't hide your emotions from her.
* Let her know that it's OK not to want to talk about it at first, but that you can talk openly about it whenever she is ready.
* When she's ready, share happy memories and funny stories about the pet.
* Encourage her to say goodbye, and offer to have a ceremony to remember the pet.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Overweight women at risk of pregnancy complications
7 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The heavier a woman is before pregnancy, the greater her risk of a range of pregnancy complications, a large study suggests.
Using data from more than 24,000 UK women who gave birth between 1976 and 2005, researchers found that the risk of problems, such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and premature delivery climbed in tandem with a woman's pre-pregnancy weight.
The findings, published in the online journal BMC Public Health, add to evidence that obesity is a risk for mothers and newborns.
They also support the belief that all pregnancies in obese women should be considered "high risk," and managed accordingly, conclude the study authors, led by Dr. Sohinee Bhattacharya of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.
The researchers found that compared with normal-weight women, obese women were 50 percent more likely to have post-delivery bleeding and twice as likely to deliver prematurely. They were also more likely to need an emergency C-section or to have labor induced.
Morbidly obese women had the highest risk of suffering pre-eclampsia, a potentially serious pregnancy complication marked by a sudden rise in blood pressure and kidney abnormalities.
In contrast, the study found that women who were underweight before pregnancy tended to have the lowest risk of all these complications. They were, however, more likely than normal-weight women to have an underweight newborn.
The results add to growing evidence of the importance of a mother's weight in pregnancy outcomes, according to Bhattacharya's team.
"The evidence for obesity as an important complication in pregnancy is mounting," the researchers write, it is time for physicians to be aware of these findings and start using them in their practice.
Besides good prenatal care, they note, this means counseling overweight women to lose weight before they become pregnant.
SOURCE: BMC Public Health, online July 24, 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The heavier a woman is before pregnancy, the greater her risk of a range of pregnancy complications, a large study suggests.
Using data from more than 24,000 UK women who gave birth between 1976 and 2005, researchers found that the risk of problems, such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and premature delivery climbed in tandem with a woman's pre-pregnancy weight.
The findings, published in the online journal BMC Public Health, add to evidence that obesity is a risk for mothers and newborns.
They also support the belief that all pregnancies in obese women should be considered "high risk," and managed accordingly, conclude the study authors, led by Dr. Sohinee Bhattacharya of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.
The researchers found that compared with normal-weight women, obese women were 50 percent more likely to have post-delivery bleeding and twice as likely to deliver prematurely. They were also more likely to need an emergency C-section or to have labor induced.
Morbidly obese women had the highest risk of suffering pre-eclampsia, a potentially serious pregnancy complication marked by a sudden rise in blood pressure and kidney abnormalities.
In contrast, the study found that women who were underweight before pregnancy tended to have the lowest risk of all these complications. They were, however, more likely than normal-weight women to have an underweight newborn.
The results add to growing evidence of the importance of a mother's weight in pregnancy outcomes, according to Bhattacharya's team.
"The evidence for obesity as an important complication in pregnancy is mounting," the researchers write, it is time for physicians to be aware of these findings and start using them in their practice.
Besides good prenatal care, they note, this means counseling overweight women to lose weight before they become pregnant.
SOURCE: BMC Public Health, online July 24, 2007.
Dietary carbs linked to vision loss
17 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The carbohydrates present in a diet can influence the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in older adults, according to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"AMD appears to share several carbohydrate-related mechanisms and risk factors with diabetes-related diseases, including (eye) and cardiovascular disease," write Dr. Allen Taylor, of Tufts University, Boston, and colleagues. "However, to date, only one small study has addressed this issue."
To investigate further, the researchers conducted a study of 4,099 participants, aged 55 to 80 years, in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study.
The team classified a total of 8,125 eyes into one of five AMD groups based on the severity of the disease and other factors.
Regular consumption of a diet with a high-glycemic index - a diet containing carbs that quickly raise blood sugar levels -- significantly increased the risk of AMD relative to regular consumption of a diet with a low-glycemic index.
The researchers calculate that 20 percent of AMD cases could have been prevented if subjects had consumed diets with a low-glycemic index.
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The carbohydrates present in a diet can influence the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in older adults, according to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"AMD appears to share several carbohydrate-related mechanisms and risk factors with diabetes-related diseases, including (eye) and cardiovascular disease," write Dr. Allen Taylor, of Tufts University, Boston, and colleagues. "However, to date, only one small study has addressed this issue."
To investigate further, the researchers conducted a study of 4,099 participants, aged 55 to 80 years, in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study.
The team classified a total of 8,125 eyes into one of five AMD groups based on the severity of the disease and other factors.
Regular consumption of a diet with a high-glycemic index - a diet containing carbs that quickly raise blood sugar levels -- significantly increased the risk of AMD relative to regular consumption of a diet with a low-glycemic index.
The researchers calculate that 20 percent of AMD cases could have been prevented if subjects had consumed diets with a low-glycemic index.
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Smoking now kills more than 400,000 people a year
Smoking now kills more than 400,000 people a year. It accounts for nearly one in five deaths in the United States.
Poor diet in pregnancy can cause child obesity: study
Wed Jul 25, 5:54 AM ET
WELLINGTON (AFP) - The diets of pregnant women may have an important role in determining whether their children will be obese later in life, a new study suggests.
The study by New Zealand and British scientists indicates that children born to mothers who ate badly during pregnancy may be more likely to put on weight later in life.
Scientists at the University of Auckland's Liggins centre say the way the foetus adapts to the environment in the womb can determine how it reacts to food later in life.
If the womb is low in nutrients, the foetus may predict food supplies will be low later in life and set its metabolism to store and conserve fat, the researchers led by Professor Peter Gluckman said in a statement Tuesday.
The study says if this early prediction proves false and food -- particularly food high in fat -- is readily available, the child may be programmed for adult obesity and conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
"The study poses questions of fundamental importance that change the whole way we think about who we are," Gluckman said.
He said the study may be important in explaining why genetically similar individuals can have markedly different metabolisms later in life.
"It changes the way we should think about tackling the obesity epidemic."
The study, based on tests on the metabolisms of rats, was done in collaboration with New Zealand's National Research Centre for Growth and Development and the University of Southhampton in Britain.
WELLINGTON (AFP) - The diets of pregnant women may have an important role in determining whether their children will be obese later in life, a new study suggests.
The study by New Zealand and British scientists indicates that children born to mothers who ate badly during pregnancy may be more likely to put on weight later in life.
Scientists at the University of Auckland's Liggins centre say the way the foetus adapts to the environment in the womb can determine how it reacts to food later in life.
If the womb is low in nutrients, the foetus may predict food supplies will be low later in life and set its metabolism to store and conserve fat, the researchers led by Professor Peter Gluckman said in a statement Tuesday.
The study says if this early prediction proves false and food -- particularly food high in fat -- is readily available, the child may be programmed for adult obesity and conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
"The study poses questions of fundamental importance that change the whole way we think about who we are," Gluckman said.
He said the study may be important in explaining why genetically similar individuals can have markedly different metabolisms later in life.
"It changes the way we should think about tackling the obesity epidemic."
The study, based on tests on the metabolisms of rats, was done in collaboration with New Zealand's National Research Centre for Growth and Development and the University of Southhampton in Britain.
Watch out, you may catch obesity
1 hour, 7 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Like the common cold, obesity can be spread from person to person, new research suggests.
A person's social network can influence their risk of obesity, according to new study findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The results suggest that if you want to stay thin, you may not want to surround yourself with obese friends and relatives.
"It's not that obese or non-obese people simply find other similar people to hang out with," study co-author Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a statement. Rather, the one directly causes the other, he explained.
"What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size. People come to think that it is okay to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads," Christakis noted.
The findings stem from a study of 12,067 individuals who were part of densely interconnected social network and were evaluated from 1971 to 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study. Body mass index, the ratio of body weight to height, was determined for all subjects and complex statistical tests were used to determine how the weight gain of a friend, sibling, spouse, or neighbor might affect a person's own weight.
The researchers identified clusters of obese people in the social network that were apparent throughout the study period. These clusters extended to three degrees of separation, the authors note.
During a given time period, the likelihood that a person would become obese rose by 57 percent if they had a friend who became obese. If a sibling or a spouse became obese, a person's risk of becoming obese increased 40 and 37 percent, respectively.
The risk of obesity was usually greater if the person's associate was of the same gender, the report indicates.
By contrast, local environmental factors seemed to have little impact on person's risk of becoming obese. For instance, people with obese neighbors who were not in their social network were not at heightened risk for becoming obese themselves.
"Social effects, I think, are much stronger than people before realized," co-author Dr. James H. Fowler, from the University of California, San Diego, said in a statement. "There's been an intensive effort to find genes that are responsible for obesity and physical processes that are responsible for obesity; and what our paper suggests is that you really should spend time looking at the social side of life as well."
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, July 26, 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Like the common cold, obesity can be spread from person to person, new research suggests.
A person's social network can influence their risk of obesity, according to new study findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The results suggest that if you want to stay thin, you may not want to surround yourself with obese friends and relatives.
"It's not that obese or non-obese people simply find other similar people to hang out with," study co-author Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a statement. Rather, the one directly causes the other, he explained.
"What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size. People come to think that it is okay to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads," Christakis noted.
The findings stem from a study of 12,067 individuals who were part of densely interconnected social network and were evaluated from 1971 to 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study. Body mass index, the ratio of body weight to height, was determined for all subjects and complex statistical tests were used to determine how the weight gain of a friend, sibling, spouse, or neighbor might affect a person's own weight.
The researchers identified clusters of obese people in the social network that were apparent throughout the study period. These clusters extended to three degrees of separation, the authors note.
During a given time period, the likelihood that a person would become obese rose by 57 percent if they had a friend who became obese. If a sibling or a spouse became obese, a person's risk of becoming obese increased 40 and 37 percent, respectively.
The risk of obesity was usually greater if the person's associate was of the same gender, the report indicates.
By contrast, local environmental factors seemed to have little impact on person's risk of becoming obese. For instance, people with obese neighbors who were not in their social network were not at heightened risk for becoming obese themselves.
"Social effects, I think, are much stronger than people before realized," co-author Dr. James H. Fowler, from the University of California, San Diego, said in a statement. "There's been an intensive effort to find genes that are responsible for obesity and physical processes that are responsible for obesity; and what our paper suggests is that you really should spend time looking at the social side of life as well."
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, July 26, 2007.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Health Tip: Your Teething Baby
2 hours, 16 minutes ago
(HealthDay News) -- A baby's first set of teeth usually starts to emerge at about 6 months of age. While discomfort and irritability are common in teething babies, other symptoms may be warning signs of another problem.
Here are some basics that parents should know about teething, courtesy of the American Dental Association:
* Irritability, fussiness, drooling, and loss of appetite are common symptoms of teething.
* Diarrhea, rash, and fever are not caused by teething, and should be evaluated by a doctor.
* Small cysts near erupting teeth are common and harmless.
* Tender gums may be soothed with a teething ring, pacifier, or a cream that helps numb the gums.
* Gums can also be massaged with a clean finger or damp piece of gauze.
(HealthDay News) -- A baby's first set of teeth usually starts to emerge at about 6 months of age. While discomfort and irritability are common in teething babies, other symptoms may be warning signs of another problem.
Here are some basics that parents should know about teething, courtesy of the American Dental Association:
* Irritability, fussiness, drooling, and loss of appetite are common symptoms of teething.
* Diarrhea, rash, and fever are not caused by teething, and should be evaluated by a doctor.
* Small cysts near erupting teeth are common and harmless.
* Tender gums may be soothed with a teething ring, pacifier, or a cream that helps numb the gums.
* Gums can also be massaged with a clean finger or damp piece of gauze.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sleep pattern linked with teen's behavior
By Charnicia Huggins 17 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New study findings suggest that a preference for nighttime over daytime activities may be associated with antisocial behavior in adolescences, even in children as young as 8 years old.
Those who prefer later bedtimes appear to exhibit more antisocial behavior than those who like to wake early and participate in daytime recreational activities, researchers report.
"A preference for evening activities and staying up late is related to problem behavior and is evident even in preteens," study co-author Dr. Elizabeth J. Susman, of Pennsylvania State University, told Reuters Health.
Staying up late "contributes to lack of sleep and this, in turn, causes problems such as lack of control and attention regulation, which are associated with antisocial behavior and substance use," Susman added in a university statement.
Susman and her team investigated the relationship between a preference for morning versus evening activities and antisocial behavior in 111 subjects between 8 to 13 years old. They also correlated morning to afternoon cortisol levels with behavior and noted the age at which the subjects reached puberty.
The researchers found a number of factors were related to antisocial behaviors in the study group, particularly in the boys who tended to exhibit more rule-breaking behaviors than did their peers. The findings are published in the Developmental Psychology journal.
For girls, a preference for evening activities was associated with a higher incidence of relational aggression or aggressive behavior towards their peers.
Boys who experienced prolonged high levels of cortisol -- smaller decreases in cortisol levels from the time of awakening until 4 pm -- tended to have more behavior problems than did their peers, the report indicates. The association was not true for girls, however.
Normally, levels of cortisol, the stress hormone associated with circadian rhythms, peak in the morning upon awakening and plateau during the afternoon and evening hours.
Abnormalities in cortisol secretion, have also been associated with clinical depression and antisocial behavior in earlier studies, the researchers note.
Boys who hit puberty at earlier ages tended to also engage in more rule-breaking and attention behavior problems than did other boys, according to parent reports, and they self-reported more symptoms of conduct disorder.
Girls who were younger at puberty reported more relational aggression compared with their peers, study findings indicate.
Overall, the findings imply that "caregivers should be vigilant to bedtime activities of children and young adolescents," according to Susman.
"Monitoring these activities is essential for making sure that children and adolescents are going to sleep in time to assure enough sleep for good functioning in school and otherwise," she added.
SOURCE: Developmental Psychology, July 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New study findings suggest that a preference for nighttime over daytime activities may be associated with antisocial behavior in adolescences, even in children as young as 8 years old.
Those who prefer later bedtimes appear to exhibit more antisocial behavior than those who like to wake early and participate in daytime recreational activities, researchers report.
"A preference for evening activities and staying up late is related to problem behavior and is evident even in preteens," study co-author Dr. Elizabeth J. Susman, of Pennsylvania State University, told Reuters Health.
Staying up late "contributes to lack of sleep and this, in turn, causes problems such as lack of control and attention regulation, which are associated with antisocial behavior and substance use," Susman added in a university statement.
Susman and her team investigated the relationship between a preference for morning versus evening activities and antisocial behavior in 111 subjects between 8 to 13 years old. They also correlated morning to afternoon cortisol levels with behavior and noted the age at which the subjects reached puberty.
The researchers found a number of factors were related to antisocial behaviors in the study group, particularly in the boys who tended to exhibit more rule-breaking behaviors than did their peers. The findings are published in the Developmental Psychology journal.
For girls, a preference for evening activities was associated with a higher incidence of relational aggression or aggressive behavior towards their peers.
Boys who experienced prolonged high levels of cortisol -- smaller decreases in cortisol levels from the time of awakening until 4 pm -- tended to have more behavior problems than did their peers, the report indicates. The association was not true for girls, however.
Normally, levels of cortisol, the stress hormone associated with circadian rhythms, peak in the morning upon awakening and plateau during the afternoon and evening hours.
Abnormalities in cortisol secretion, have also been associated with clinical depression and antisocial behavior in earlier studies, the researchers note.
Boys who hit puberty at earlier ages tended to also engage in more rule-breaking and attention behavior problems than did other boys, according to parent reports, and they self-reported more symptoms of conduct disorder.
Girls who were younger at puberty reported more relational aggression compared with their peers, study findings indicate.
Overall, the findings imply that "caregivers should be vigilant to bedtime activities of children and young adolescents," according to Susman.
"Monitoring these activities is essential for making sure that children and adolescents are going to sleep in time to assure enough sleep for good functioning in school and otherwise," she added.
SOURCE: Developmental Psychology, July 2007.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Exercise may help with hard-to-treat depression
Thu Jul 19, 3:35 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular exercise may improve depression symptoms in people who've failed to get better with antidepressant medication, the results of a small study suggest.
The study found that depressed women who started a supervised exercise regimen had significant improvements in their symptoms over the next 8 months. Those who didn't exercise showed only marginal improvements.
Before the study, all of the women had tried taking antidepressant medication for at least two months but had failed to improve.
A number of studies have found that physically active people are less likely than couch potatoes to suffer depression. Some clinical trials have shown regular exercise can help treat the disorder, and perhaps be as effective as antidepressant drugs in some cases.
The new findings suggest that exercise can even help people whose symptoms have been resistant to medication, according to the study authors.
Dr. Alessandra Pilu of the University of Cagliari in Italy and co-investigators report their findings in the online journal of Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health.
The study included 30 women ages 40 to 60 who'd been diagnosed with major depression. The researchers randomly assigned the women to either stick with antidepressants alone or to start an exercise program. All of the patients continued to take their medication.
The exercisers worked out as a group twice a week for 1 hour, using cardio-fitness machines. At the beginning of the study and 8 months later, women in both groups completed standard measures used to assess depression severity.
Pilu's team found that women in the exercise group showed marked improvements in their depression symptoms, while those on medication alone made only modest gains.
The findings suggest that exercise could be an effective additional treatment for depression over the long term, the researchers point out.
There are several theories on why exercise might improve depression. Physical activity seems to affect some key nervous system chemicals -- norepinephrine and serotonin -- that are targets of antidepressant drugs, as well as brain neurotrophins, which help protect nerve cells from injury and transmit signals in brain regions related to mood.
Beyond that, people who take group exercise classes may feel better from simply getting out and being with other people.
SOURCE: Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, online July 9, 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular exercise may improve depression symptoms in people who've failed to get better with antidepressant medication, the results of a small study suggest.
The study found that depressed women who started a supervised exercise regimen had significant improvements in their symptoms over the next 8 months. Those who didn't exercise showed only marginal improvements.
Before the study, all of the women had tried taking antidepressant medication for at least two months but had failed to improve.
A number of studies have found that physically active people are less likely than couch potatoes to suffer depression. Some clinical trials have shown regular exercise can help treat the disorder, and perhaps be as effective as antidepressant drugs in some cases.
The new findings suggest that exercise can even help people whose symptoms have been resistant to medication, according to the study authors.
Dr. Alessandra Pilu of the University of Cagliari in Italy and co-investigators report their findings in the online journal of Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health.
The study included 30 women ages 40 to 60 who'd been diagnosed with major depression. The researchers randomly assigned the women to either stick with antidepressants alone or to start an exercise program. All of the patients continued to take their medication.
The exercisers worked out as a group twice a week for 1 hour, using cardio-fitness machines. At the beginning of the study and 8 months later, women in both groups completed standard measures used to assess depression severity.
Pilu's team found that women in the exercise group showed marked improvements in their depression symptoms, while those on medication alone made only modest gains.
The findings suggest that exercise could be an effective additional treatment for depression over the long term, the researchers point out.
There are several theories on why exercise might improve depression. Physical activity seems to affect some key nervous system chemicals -- norepinephrine and serotonin -- that are targets of antidepressant drugs, as well as brain neurotrophins, which help protect nerve cells from injury and transmit signals in brain regions related to mood.
Beyond that, people who take group exercise classes may feel better from simply getting out and being with other people.
SOURCE: Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, online July 9, 2007.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Natural Cancer-Fighting Protein May Also Slow Aging
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter 20 minutes ago
WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- There's no fountain of youth waiting around the corner, but a study of unusually old mice suggests a natural anticancer protein might also put the brakes on aging.
The protein, called p53, along with one of its cellular regulators, called Arf, may boost the body's antioxidant activity to keep cells younger longer, according to research in the July 19 issue of Nature.
In the study, a team of cancer investigators closely examined cells from mice genetically engineered to produce extra amounts of p53 and/or Arf.
"When we examined markers of aging in these mice, we observed that their aging is slower," said senior researcher Manuel Serrano of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid. This extended lifespan wasn't just due to p53's well-known anti-cancer activity, he said, since aging was slowed even when the researchers took cancer suppression into account.
Cancer researchers are certainly no strangers to the p53 protein, which is produced naturally by the body.
"P53 is the undisputed 'star' in cancer research -- scientists know more about p53 than about any other gene or protein," Serrano said. That's because the protein helps target and eliminate what he called "unhappy" cells -- cells with broken DNA, or cells poorly supplied in oxygen -- that have a higher risk of becoming malignant.
"P53 kills the unhappy cells by activating another complex cascade of events (only partly understood) that includes self-digestive proteins that basically destroy the cell," Serrano explained.
P53 is helped in this task by the regulatory chemical Arf, which lets p53 know that a particular cell is in trouble and marked for elimination.
Throughout their years of work with p53/Arf, Serrano's Spanish team has utilized a genetically engineered strain of lab mice that produces extra-high quantities of the two proteins. The Madrid researchers noted t hat these rodents lived longer than other mice, even when the scientists factored out reductions in cancer-related death.
While no one is sure just how p53 keeps cells young, Serrano believes the protein "delays aging for exactly the same reason that it prevents cancer."
"In the aging field, everyone agrees that aging is produced by the accumulation of faulty cells," he said. However, p53/Arf appears to be a kind of "quality control" manager in this regard, eliminating bad cells that cause cancer and speed up the aging process. Therefore, "the expectation is that by having more p53, mice will have more strict quality control for cells, hence less cancer and less aging," Serrano said.
In fact, p53 may be a key to explaining why cancer incidence rises near the end of any mammal's lifespan, the researchers said. This sharp rise in malignancy isn't dependent on how many years the animal lives (for example, mice live about three years, humans close to 80). Instead, it always occurs near the end of a particular animal's expected lifespan.
So, "the fact that we have evolved to be such a long-lived species probably requires that we can fight cancer [longer]," and p53 probably helps humans do that, said Felipe Sierra, director of the Biology of Aging Program at the U.S. National Institute on Aging. He believes p53/Arf plays a key role in keeping cancer at bay throughout youth and middle-age, but this effect may wane in old age.
According to Sierra, the Spanish study helps answer the question of why aging and cancer are so closely intertwined, and p53's role in that relationship. "The fact that there was a connection was suspected for a long time, but it was difficult to prove," he said. "It's perfectly sensible that there's this correlation between these two things."
But don't look for any elixir of eternal life anytime soon, the experts said.
"There are a number of chemical compounds that have been developed by big pharmaceutical companies, and these compounds are able to boost p53 in the organism," Serrano noted. But testing of these compounds is still in its earliest stages and safely "fine-tuning" the p53 cascade will likely be a delicate process. "To achieve this fine-tuning with chemical drugs may not be that easy," he said.
Sierra was similarly cautious.
"We're not really talking here about anything that can manipulate the system," he said. "This is just about basic mechanisms, so we can start looking in different directions. There's no fountain of youth in the near future."
HealthDay Reporter 20 minutes ago
WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- There's no fountain of youth waiting around the corner, but a study of unusually old mice suggests a natural anticancer protein might also put the brakes on aging.
The protein, called p53, along with one of its cellular regulators, called Arf, may boost the body's antioxidant activity to keep cells younger longer, according to research in the July 19 issue of Nature.
In the study, a team of cancer investigators closely examined cells from mice genetically engineered to produce extra amounts of p53 and/or Arf.
"When we examined markers of aging in these mice, we observed that their aging is slower," said senior researcher Manuel Serrano of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid. This extended lifespan wasn't just due to p53's well-known anti-cancer activity, he said, since aging was slowed even when the researchers took cancer suppression into account.
Cancer researchers are certainly no strangers to the p53 protein, which is produced naturally by the body.
"P53 is the undisputed 'star' in cancer research -- scientists know more about p53 than about any other gene or protein," Serrano said. That's because the protein helps target and eliminate what he called "unhappy" cells -- cells with broken DNA, or cells poorly supplied in oxygen -- that have a higher risk of becoming malignant.
"P53 kills the unhappy cells by activating another complex cascade of events (only partly understood) that includes self-digestive proteins that basically destroy the cell," Serrano explained.
P53 is helped in this task by the regulatory chemical Arf, which lets p53 know that a particular cell is in trouble and marked for elimination.
Throughout their years of work with p53/Arf, Serrano's Spanish team has utilized a genetically engineered strain of lab mice that produces extra-high quantities of the two proteins. The Madrid researchers noted t hat these rodents lived longer than other mice, even when the scientists factored out reductions in cancer-related death.
While no one is sure just how p53 keeps cells young, Serrano believes the protein "delays aging for exactly the same reason that it prevents cancer."
"In the aging field, everyone agrees that aging is produced by the accumulation of faulty cells," he said. However, p53/Arf appears to be a kind of "quality control" manager in this regard, eliminating bad cells that cause cancer and speed up the aging process. Therefore, "the expectation is that by having more p53, mice will have more strict quality control for cells, hence less cancer and less aging," Serrano said.
In fact, p53 may be a key to explaining why cancer incidence rises near the end of any mammal's lifespan, the researchers said. This sharp rise in malignancy isn't dependent on how many years the animal lives (for example, mice live about three years, humans close to 80). Instead, it always occurs near the end of a particular animal's expected lifespan.
So, "the fact that we have evolved to be such a long-lived species probably requires that we can fight cancer [longer]," and p53 probably helps humans do that, said Felipe Sierra, director of the Biology of Aging Program at the U.S. National Institute on Aging. He believes p53/Arf plays a key role in keeping cancer at bay throughout youth and middle-age, but this effect may wane in old age.
According to Sierra, the Spanish study helps answer the question of why aging and cancer are so closely intertwined, and p53's role in that relationship. "The fact that there was a connection was suspected for a long time, but it was difficult to prove," he said. "It's perfectly sensible that there's this correlation between these two things."
But don't look for any elixir of eternal life anytime soon, the experts said.
"There are a number of chemical compounds that have been developed by big pharmaceutical companies, and these compounds are able to boost p53 in the organism," Serrano noted. But testing of these compounds is still in its earliest stages and safely "fine-tuning" the p53 cascade will likely be a delicate process. "To achieve this fine-tuning with chemical drugs may not be that easy," he said.
Sierra was similarly cautious.
"We're not really talking here about anything that can manipulate the system," he said. "This is just about basic mechanisms, so we can start looking in different directions. There's no fountain of youth in the near future."
Texas man battles flesh-eating bacteria
9 minutes ago
HOUSTON - A Nacogdoches man was in critical but stable condition after three surgeries aimed at saving him from a flesh-eating bacteria that infected him during a swim off the coast of Galveston County.
Steve Gilpatrick, 58, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by a bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus, when he took ill three days after swimming during a July 8 fishing trip at Crystal Beach.
Gilpatrick's physician, Dr. David Herndon, the chief of burn services and professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said Tuesday the situation is life-threatening because the infection spread to Gilpatrick's blood. Gilpatrick is suffering from multiple organ failure and doctors are trying to save his leg.
"I've heard of flesh-eating bacteria, but it always seemed so far away," said his wife, Linda Gilpatrick. "It's not. It's here."
The Gilpatricks regularly vacation in Galveston each summer, she said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus thrives during summer months in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Swimmers with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients or people with liver disease, are most at risk. A point of entry, such as an open wound, allows the bacteria into the body.
Gilpatrick is diabetic and had an ulcer on his lower leg when he went swimming. His wife said he believed the sore was nearly healed. His leg became infected three days later and he began running a high fever.
"We figured he had some type of infection," Linda Gilpatrick said. "But we didn't, of course, realize the extent of it."
The CDC says most cases of Vibrio vulnificus occur along the Gulf Coast, but it's rare. In Texas, there were 22 cases of the infection reported in 2006, with at least seven caused by water contact, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
People can also be infected by eating contaminated seafood. Raw shellfish, particularly oysters, pose the greatest risk, according to CDC. The bacterium causes nearly all seafood-related deaths in the United States, the agency says.
Symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. When it infects the bloodstream, it can cause fever, decreased blood pressure and blistering skin lesions.
Dr. Robert Atmar, a professor and infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said seafood-eaters should be aware of the infection risk, but healthy swimmers shouldn't worry.
"I wouldn't alter (swimming) activities based on this, if you're otherwise healthy," he said. "People who have chronic illnesses like diabetes or steroids or cancer or chronic liver disease, if they have open wounds or sores, shouldn't go wading in the Gulf during the summer."
HOUSTON - A Nacogdoches man was in critical but stable condition after three surgeries aimed at saving him from a flesh-eating bacteria that infected him during a swim off the coast of Galveston County.
Steve Gilpatrick, 58, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by a bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus, when he took ill three days after swimming during a July 8 fishing trip at Crystal Beach.
Gilpatrick's physician, Dr. David Herndon, the chief of burn services and professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said Tuesday the situation is life-threatening because the infection spread to Gilpatrick's blood. Gilpatrick is suffering from multiple organ failure and doctors are trying to save his leg.
"I've heard of flesh-eating bacteria, but it always seemed so far away," said his wife, Linda Gilpatrick. "It's not. It's here."
The Gilpatricks regularly vacation in Galveston each summer, she said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus thrives during summer months in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Swimmers with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients or people with liver disease, are most at risk. A point of entry, such as an open wound, allows the bacteria into the body.
Gilpatrick is diabetic and had an ulcer on his lower leg when he went swimming. His wife said he believed the sore was nearly healed. His leg became infected three days later and he began running a high fever.
"We figured he had some type of infection," Linda Gilpatrick said. "But we didn't, of course, realize the extent of it."
The CDC says most cases of Vibrio vulnificus occur along the Gulf Coast, but it's rare. In Texas, there were 22 cases of the infection reported in 2006, with at least seven caused by water contact, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
People can also be infected by eating contaminated seafood. Raw shellfish, particularly oysters, pose the greatest risk, according to CDC. The bacterium causes nearly all seafood-related deaths in the United States, the agency says.
Symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. When it infects the bloodstream, it can cause fever, decreased blood pressure and blistering skin lesions.
Dr. Robert Atmar, a professor and infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said seafood-eaters should be aware of the infection risk, but healthy swimmers shouldn't worry.
"I wouldn't alter (swimming) activities based on this, if you're otherwise healthy," he said. "People who have chronic illnesses like diabetes or steroids or cancer or chronic liver disease, if they have open wounds or sores, shouldn't go wading in the Gulf during the summer."
Study predicts 75 percent overweight in U.S. by 2015
13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese, U.S. researchers predicted on Wednesday.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.
"Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement.
They defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMIs of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.
Sixteen percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 34 percent are at risk of becoming overweight, according to federal government figures.
Every group is steadily getting heavier, Wang said.
"Our analysis showed patterns of obesity or overweight for various groups of Americans," said May Beydoun, who worked on the study.
"Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese, U.S. researchers predicted on Wednesday.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.
"Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement.
They defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMIs of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.
Sixteen percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 34 percent are at risk of becoming overweight, according to federal government figures.
Every group is steadily getting heavier, Wang said.
"Our analysis showed patterns of obesity or overweight for various groups of Americans," said May Beydoun, who worked on the study.
"Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Overweight kids face widespread stigma
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 12, 3:54 AM ET
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life
Youngsters who report teasing, rejection, bullying and other types of abuse because of their weight are two to three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts as well as to suffer from other health issues such as high blood pressure and eating disorders, researchers said.
"The stigmatization directed at obese children by their peers, parents, educators and others is pervasive and often unrelenting," researchers with Yale University and the University of Hawaii at Manatoa wrote in the July issue of Psychological Bulletin.
The paper was based on a review of all research on youth weight bias over the past 40 years, said lead author Rebecca M. Puhl of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
It comes amid a growing worldwide epidemic of child obesity. By 2010, almost 50 percent of children in North America and 38 percent of children in the European Union will be overweight, the researchers said.
While programs to prevent childhood obesity are growing, more efforts are needed to protect overweight children from abuse, Puhl said.
"The quality of life for kids who are obese is comparable to the quality of life of kids who have cancer," Puhl said, citing one study. "These kids are facing stigma from everywhere they look in society, whether it's media, school or at home."
Even with a growing percentage of overweight people, the stigma shows no signs of subsiding, according to Puhl. She said television and other media continue to reinforce negative stereotypes.
"This is a form of bias that is very socially acceptable," Puhl said. "It is rarely challenged; it's often ignored."
The stigmatization of overweight children has been documented for decades. When children were asked to rank photos of children as friends in a 1961 study, the overweight child was ranked last.
Children as young as 3 are more likely to consider overweight peers to be mean, stupid, ugly and sloppy.
A growing body of research shows that parents and educators are also biased against heavy children. In a 1999 study of 115 middle and high school teachers, 20 percent said they believed obese people are untidy, less likely to succeed and more emotional.
"Perhaps the most surprising source of weight stigma toward youths is parents," the report says.
Several studies showed that overweight girls got less college financial support from their parents than average weight girls. Other studies showed teasing by parents was common.
"It is possible that parents may take out their frustration, anger and guilt on their overweight child by adopting stigmatizing attitudes and behavior, such as making critical and negative comments toward their child," the authors wrote, suggesting further research is needed.
Lynn McAfee, 58, of Stowe, Pa., said that as an overweight child she faced troubles on all fronts.
"It was constantly impressed upon me that I wasn't going to get anywhere in the world if I was fat," McAfee said. "You hear it so often, it becomes the truth."
Her mother, who also was overweight, offered to buy her a mink coat when she was 8 to try to get her to lose weight even though her family was poor.
"I felt I was letting everybody down," she said.
Other children would try to run her down on bikes to see if she would bounce. She had a hard time getting on teams in the playground.
"Teachers did not stand up for me when I was teased," McAfee said.
A study in 2003 found that obese children had much lower quality of life scores on issues such as health, emotional and social well-being, and school functioning.
"An alarming finding of this research was that obese children had (quality of life) scores comparable with those of children with cancer," the researchers reported.
Sylvia Rimm, author of "Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children," said her surveys of more than 5,000 middle school children reached similar conclusions.
"The overweight children felt less intelligent," Rimm said. "They felt less popular. They struggled from early on. They feel they are a different species."
Parents should emphasize a child's strengths, she said, and teachers should pair up students for activities instead of letting children pick their partners.
McAfee, who now works for the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, said her childhood experiences even made her reluctant to see a doctor when she needed one. She recalled one doctor who said she looked like a gorilla and another who gave her painkillers and diet pills for what turned out to be mononucleosis.
"The amount of cruelty I've seen in people has changed me forever," McAfee said.
The Yale-Hawaii research report recommends more research to determine whether negative stereotypes lead to discriminatory behavior, citing evidence that overweight adults face discrimination. It also calls for studying ways to reduce stigma and negative attitudes toward overweight children.
"Weight-based discrimination is as important a problem as racial discrimination or discrimination against children with physical disabilities," the report concludes. "Remedying it needs to be taken equally seriously..."
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life
Youngsters who report teasing, rejection, bullying and other types of abuse because of their weight are two to three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts as well as to suffer from other health issues such as high blood pressure and eating disorders, researchers said.
"The stigmatization directed at obese children by their peers, parents, educators and others is pervasive and often unrelenting," researchers with Yale University and the University of Hawaii at Manatoa wrote in the July issue of Psychological Bulletin.
The paper was based on a review of all research on youth weight bias over the past 40 years, said lead author Rebecca M. Puhl of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
It comes amid a growing worldwide epidemic of child obesity. By 2010, almost 50 percent of children in North America and 38 percent of children in the European Union will be overweight, the researchers said.
While programs to prevent childhood obesity are growing, more efforts are needed to protect overweight children from abuse, Puhl said.
"The quality of life for kids who are obese is comparable to the quality of life of kids who have cancer," Puhl said, citing one study. "These kids are facing stigma from everywhere they look in society, whether it's media, school or at home."
Even with a growing percentage of overweight people, the stigma shows no signs of subsiding, according to Puhl. She said television and other media continue to reinforce negative stereotypes.
"This is a form of bias that is very socially acceptable," Puhl said. "It is rarely challenged; it's often ignored."
The stigmatization of overweight children has been documented for decades. When children were asked to rank photos of children as friends in a 1961 study, the overweight child was ranked last.
Children as young as 3 are more likely to consider overweight peers to be mean, stupid, ugly and sloppy.
A growing body of research shows that parents and educators are also biased against heavy children. In a 1999 study of 115 middle and high school teachers, 20 percent said they believed obese people are untidy, less likely to succeed and more emotional.
"Perhaps the most surprising source of weight stigma toward youths is parents," the report says.
Several studies showed that overweight girls got less college financial support from their parents than average weight girls. Other studies showed teasing by parents was common.
"It is possible that parents may take out their frustration, anger and guilt on their overweight child by adopting stigmatizing attitudes and behavior, such as making critical and negative comments toward their child," the authors wrote, suggesting further research is needed.
Lynn McAfee, 58, of Stowe, Pa., said that as an overweight child she faced troubles on all fronts.
"It was constantly impressed upon me that I wasn't going to get anywhere in the world if I was fat," McAfee said. "You hear it so often, it becomes the truth."
Her mother, who also was overweight, offered to buy her a mink coat when she was 8 to try to get her to lose weight even though her family was poor.
"I felt I was letting everybody down," she said.
Other children would try to run her down on bikes to see if she would bounce. She had a hard time getting on teams in the playground.
"Teachers did not stand up for me when I was teased," McAfee said.
A study in 2003 found that obese children had much lower quality of life scores on issues such as health, emotional and social well-being, and school functioning.
"An alarming finding of this research was that obese children had (quality of life) scores comparable with those of children with cancer," the researchers reported.
Sylvia Rimm, author of "Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children," said her surveys of more than 5,000 middle school children reached similar conclusions.
"The overweight children felt less intelligent," Rimm said. "They felt less popular. They struggled from early on. They feel they are a different species."
Parents should emphasize a child's strengths, she said, and teachers should pair up students for activities instead of letting children pick their partners.
McAfee, who now works for the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, said her childhood experiences even made her reluctant to see a doctor when she needed one. She recalled one doctor who said she looked like a gorilla and another who gave her painkillers and diet pills for what turned out to be mononucleosis.
"The amount of cruelty I've seen in people has changed me forever," McAfee said.
The Yale-Hawaii research report recommends more research to determine whether negative stereotypes lead to discriminatory behavior, citing evidence that overweight adults face discrimination. It also calls for studying ways to reduce stigma and negative attitudes toward overweight children.
"Weight-based discrimination is as important a problem as racial discrimination or discrimination against children with physical disabilities," the report concludes. "Remedying it needs to be taken equally seriously..."
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Newborns tested for genetic disorders
4 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Good news for the nation's babies: Nearly 90 percent of newborns are getting tested for a host of rare but devastating genetic disorders.
Since 2004, specialists have urged that every U.S. newborn be checked for 29 conditions, to detect the few thousand who will need early treatment to avoid death, retardation or other serious problems.
The federal government hasn't issued national screening guidelines, but more states are following the advice on their own. As of June 1, 40 states required testing for more than 20 of those disorders, says a March of Dimes report issued Wednesday.
Topping the list, 13 states plus Washington, D.C., required testing of every newborn for the entire list of 29 conditions, which range from sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis to lesser known diseases such as the metabolic disorder LCHAD.
New Hampshire also began testing for all 29 conditions on July 1, after the report's deadline.
The report marks steady progress: Just 38 percent of babies were born in states with intensive screening when the March of Dimes counted in 2005, and 64 percent last year. This year, that number rises to 87.5 percent of newborns, or about 3.6 million babies, the child advocacy group calculated.
Still, almost half a million infants are born in states that require testing for 12 or fewer of the conditions, the analysis found. They include Arkansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Three more — Kansas, Montana and West Virginia — passed legislation this year requiring checks for all 29 disorders, but that expanded testing hasn't yet begun.
While some states tout testing for even more conditions, the 29 on this "core list" — hearing loss plus 28 genetic diseases that can be diagnosed using a single drop of blood — are those deemed most important for screening by the American College of Medical Genetics.
WASHINGTON - Good news for the nation's babies: Nearly 90 percent of newborns are getting tested for a host of rare but devastating genetic disorders.
Since 2004, specialists have urged that every U.S. newborn be checked for 29 conditions, to detect the few thousand who will need early treatment to avoid death, retardation or other serious problems.
The federal government hasn't issued national screening guidelines, but more states are following the advice on their own. As of June 1, 40 states required testing for more than 20 of those disorders, says a March of Dimes report issued Wednesday.
Topping the list, 13 states plus Washington, D.C., required testing of every newborn for the entire list of 29 conditions, which range from sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis to lesser known diseases such as the metabolic disorder LCHAD.
New Hampshire also began testing for all 29 conditions on July 1, after the report's deadline.
The report marks steady progress: Just 38 percent of babies were born in states with intensive screening when the March of Dimes counted in 2005, and 64 percent last year. This year, that number rises to 87.5 percent of newborns, or about 3.6 million babies, the child advocacy group calculated.
Still, almost half a million infants are born in states that require testing for 12 or fewer of the conditions, the analysis found. They include Arkansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Three more — Kansas, Montana and West Virginia — passed legislation this year requiring checks for all 29 disorders, but that expanded testing hasn't yet begun.
While some states tout testing for even more conditions, the 29 on this "core list" — hearing loss plus 28 genetic diseases that can be diagnosed using a single drop of blood — are those deemed most important for screening by the American College of Medical Genetics.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Meats, Sweets May Boost Breast Cancer Risk
10 minutes ago
TUESDAY, July 10 (HealthDay News) -- A study of older Chinese women suggests that a move toward a Western-style diet -- heavy on meat and sugary foods -- boosts breast cancer risk.
Postmenopausal Chinese women who ate a diet that included red meat, starches and sweets were twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who ate the traditional vegetable-soy-fish diet, according to a study in the July issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
In the study, American and Chinese researchers studied women, ages 25 to 64, in Shanghai who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer between August 1996 and March 1998.
The dietary habits of the women with the 1,602 breast cancer cases were compared to those of more than 1,500 women without breast cancer.
The researchers found that overweight, postmenopausal women who ate a western-style diet had a greater than twofold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers. There was no association between breast cancer risk and a vegetable-soy-fish diet.
The "meat-sweet" western diet relies on various kinds of meats, saltwater fish and shellfish, bread, milk, dessert and candy. The vegetable-soy-fish diet favors various vegetables, soy-based products, and freshwater fish.
"The Shanghai data gave us a unique look at a population of Chinese women who were beginning to adopt more western-style eating habits," researcher Marilyn Tseng, an associate member in the population science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement.
"Our study suggests the possibility that the 'meat-sweet' pattern interacts with obesity to increase breast cancer risk," Tseng said. "Low consumption of a western dietary pattern plus successful weight control may protect against breast cancer in a traditionally low-risk Asian population that is poised to more broadly adopt foods characteristic of western societies."
More information
Breastcancer.org has more about nutrition and breast cancer.
TUESDAY, July 10 (HealthDay News) -- A study of older Chinese women suggests that a move toward a Western-style diet -- heavy on meat and sugary foods -- boosts breast cancer risk.
Postmenopausal Chinese women who ate a diet that included red meat, starches and sweets were twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who ate the traditional vegetable-soy-fish diet, according to a study in the July issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
In the study, American and Chinese researchers studied women, ages 25 to 64, in Shanghai who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer between August 1996 and March 1998.
The dietary habits of the women with the 1,602 breast cancer cases were compared to those of more than 1,500 women without breast cancer.
The researchers found that overweight, postmenopausal women who ate a western-style diet had a greater than twofold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers. There was no association between breast cancer risk and a vegetable-soy-fish diet.
The "meat-sweet" western diet relies on various kinds of meats, saltwater fish and shellfish, bread, milk, dessert and candy. The vegetable-soy-fish diet favors various vegetables, soy-based products, and freshwater fish.
"The Shanghai data gave us a unique look at a population of Chinese women who were beginning to adopt more western-style eating habits," researcher Marilyn Tseng, an associate member in the population science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement.
"Our study suggests the possibility that the 'meat-sweet' pattern interacts with obesity to increase breast cancer risk," Tseng said. "Low consumption of a western dietary pattern plus successful weight control may protect against breast cancer in a traditionally low-risk Asian population that is poised to more broadly adopt foods characteristic of western societies."
More information
Breastcancer.org has more about nutrition and breast cancer.
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