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Health News Tuesday!
Why Your Appendix Isn't Useless
Wondering what your appendix is for? New research shows that the appendix may play a role in maintaining healthy gut flora.
Obesity Epidemic
This is an opinion piece and I don't agree with all of it (as most of you know, I don't believe that healthy fat or cholesterol are bad at all), but it does make you think.
Whole Foods to Use "Non-GMO" Seal on its Private Label Products
There is currently no law requiring the labeling of GMO foods. Most corn and soy products in an average grocery store (non-organic) are GMO. WF is taking steps to assure that their products do not contain GMO foods and are labeled as such! I am excited since I shop there a lot.
Routine Cancer Screenings Useless
The big push to screen all men and women of a certain age for cancer has resulted in no reduction in cancer rates (in fact, they're higher), suggesting that frequent, routine screenings are not beneficial. Instead, screening should be saved for those in true high-risk groups or who have symptoms.
Statin Drugs Cause Muscle Damage
In this day and age, probably everyone knows someone who is taking a statin drug. Besides the fact that high cholesterol causing heart problems is a myth, statin drugs can also cause muscle damage (and other damage). More reason to stop taking them immediately!
Stop the AP's Attack on Alternative Medicine
This is more a call to action than anything else. The AP (Associated Press) is publishing a series of articles on why alternative medicine is bad. This series is highly misleading and based on faulty studies, most carried out by the drug industries and not involving anyone who was trained to practice alternative medicine. Please take a minute to read this even if you read nothing else.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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I'm not sure I agree with the article "Routine Cancer Screenings Useless." I don't think it's bad to be screened for cancer. It's simply a preventative measure. We get PAP tests every year to see if everything is ok, so why not a mammogram? The article states, " ...including a study showing that an increase in mammography screenings is associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer.." of course there's an increased incidence. People are being screened and finding out they have cancer. Just because we don't screen doesn't mean cancer goes away.
ReplyDeleteAs a young woman whose mother had breast cancer, I will continue to be screened. My mother's cancer was found when she was in her 30s--a very early age to have breast cancer. Had she not been screened, we wouldn't have known until she showed symptoms, in which case it may have been too late.
Good point anonymous! Of course increased screening leads to increases in diagnosis. As with any routine health check, the POINT is ruling out disease. Does anyone think we should stop doing routine ultrasounds and other screening tests during pregnancy? Women should stand together to make sure that mammograms are available to them. If it were a test routinly done to screen for cancer in men, I wonder if we would be having this debate?
ReplyDeleteIf your mother had breast cancer in her 30's, you should begin screening ten years prior to the age at which she was diagnosed. I, for one, am glad that you are so educated about your cancer risk and applaud you for getting screened.
Actually -- there is a debate about prostate cancer screening in men. It's found to help only about 2 - 5% of men and some doctors are now recommending against routine screening there, too. It's not just about cancer in women.
ReplyDeleteAlso, new studies have shown that yearly screenings are not actually the most helpful. In one study (I really need to dig this up), two groups of women were screened, one yearly and one after 5 or 6 years. There was MORE cancer found in the yearly group than the less-frequent group. The researchers think this is because 1) The yearly screenings were turning up cancer that was so early, it would have regressed on its own (more and more studies are showing that early cancer can and frequently does go away on its own) and 2) That the radiation used in the mammograms was actually CAUSING cancer.
It's not that you should NEVER be screened, but be smart about it.
I forgot to mention -- in that study on breast cancer screening, there was no increase in late-stage cancer among the less frequently screened women. If, in fact, there were equal amounts of cancer in the two groups but it just wasn't caught early, we would expect to see more late-stage cancer in the group that waited to be screened. That wasn't seen. So that proves that being screened less often is really a better idea. Of course, you should talk to a health professional you trust, but please be on top of new research and ask that your doctor is, as well.
ReplyDelete"Late-stage" cancer is often aggressive cancer that progresses rapidly. Frequent screening detects early, treatable cancers before they progress to stage 3 or 4. Rapidly progressing late-stage cancer has symptoms such as lumps, and patients undergo MRI (more costly and not a usual method of screening) and surgical biopsies. We won't see more late-stage cancer in the group that waits for mammograms because the cancer is found through methods other than mammograms.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the idea that cancer regresses on its own? I'm curious, if you were found to have breast cancer in a few years and were told that the cancer was present while you were breastfeeding your children, would you be concerned about how that cancer affected your breast milk? Would you worry that you might have passed on some of those cancer cells to your child/children? If your mother had early cancer, would you get early, annual mammograms to ensure that you weren't passing any cancer cells through your breast milk(most breast cancer begins in the milk ducts) to your nursing children?
Please don't tell people who are at higher risk for cancer to delay screenings. I really doubt that you are as "on top of new research" as the professionals who dedicate their careers to it. You are obviously busy blogging and being a mother, so staying on top of the latest breast cancer research logically cannot be on the top of your "to do" list. Unless you are willing to interview primary sources, not just read articles about current thinking, stick to what you know - motherhood and recipes.
By the way, if your husband were in that 2-5% of men who were helped by prostate screening, how would you feel about it then? What if your daughter were in the 5% of women who were helped by mammograms? Do you get routine pap tests? If so, why?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27canc.html That's a mainstream media article that discusses cancer regressing on its own...which links to the medical journal article it is based on.
ReplyDeletePlease -- discuss all your medical treatments with a medical professional you trust. But do your own research as well and bring that in to discuss, too. I am spreading new ideas and information, and if you reject it, that is up to you. But everyone should have access to different viewpoints.
A quote from the article you referenced:
ReplyDelete"Testicular cancer is unusual; most others do not disappear. But there is growing evidence that cancers can go backward or stop, and researchers are being forced to reasses their notions of what cancer is and how it develops."
"Of course, cancers do not routinely go away, and no one is suggesting that patients avoid treatments because of such occasional occurences."
I'm NOT rejecting new ideas or information. I am sure that there will be advances in the detection and treatment of cancer. Really smart, dedicated doctors and researchers are working on it! But, based on the article you referenced, NO ONE is suggesting patients avoid treatments until more is understood. To suggest otherwise is at best irresponsible and at worst dangerous.
As a cancer survivor, I have spent the last 10 years thoroughly researching every treatment that I agreed to receive. I discuss all of the new treatments and tests with my very smart, caring, trusted doctor. I have a huge stake in finding the right tests and treatments. Do you?
What do you think about the panel that said mammograoms could wait until women are 50 saying that thier findings were mis-reported? do you still think women should postpone mammograms until they are 50?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI think it is wise for low-risk women, certainly, to wait until age 50. Women should ideally perform monthly self-exams and see their doctors for manual exams too if they are worried so that they can have a mammogram or follow test if one is warranted.