  
QUIGLEY'S CORNER:
Welcome to Quigley's Corner. Every month you can count on Gerald Quigley to deliver an opinion, report, interpretation or health message on cancer or cancer related issues, based on reports he reviews through Medline and other agencies.
These reports are easy to read, easy to understand, and contain appropriate reference if readers wish to delve into the issues further.
JULY 2008: Broccoli Boys!
Just a few more portions of broccoli each week may protect men from prostate cancer, according to British researchers.
They believe that a chemical in the food sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer, and switching off others that fuel tumours.
There is plenty of evidence linking a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables to reduce cancer risk. But this study is the first human trial investigating the potential biological mechanism at work.
The benefit would likely be the same in other cruciferous vegetables, including brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, watercress and horseradish. Broccoli though, contains a particularly powerful type of compound, which the researchers think gives this vegetable an extra cancer-fighting kick.
Researchers say that when people get cancer, some genes are switched off and some are switched on. What broccoli seems to be doing is switching on genes which prevent cancer developing, and switching off other ones that help it spread.
It is also likely that these vegetables work the same way in other parts of the body, and probably protect people against a whole range of cancers.
You don't need a huge change in your diet...just a few more portions makes a big difference.
JUNE 2008: Flava-flavonoids!
Eating fruits and vegetables rich in flavonoids, and drinking tea, may help protect smokers from lung cancer, say researchers from the University of California.
Flavonoids are water-soluble plant pigments that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can counteract damage to tissues. The UCLA team made the conclusion based on a study of the dietary habits of smokers with and without lung cancer.
The flavonoids that appeared to be the most effective were catechin (found in strawberries and green and black teas), kaempferol (Brussels sprouts and apples) and quercetin (beans, onions and apples).
The finding could be important, as tobacco smoking causes more than 90 per cent of lung cancers.
Flavonoids may protect against lung cancer by stopping the development of blood vessels that tumours need to grow and spread, a process called angiogenesis. They also stop cancer cells from growing, allowing a naturally programmed cell death, or opoptsis, to occur.
Flavonoids' antioxidant properties may also counteract the damage tobacco smoke does to DNA. Flavonoids affect the development of lung cancer in smokers, but not in non-smokers.
Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings, and to see if flavonoids protect aganst other smoking-related cancers, such as bladder, head, neck and kidney cancers.
Perhaps the follow up study might be which fruits and vegetables have the most flavonoids found to be effective, as well as the optimal number of servings per day.
MAY 2008: Trans-fats!
Trans-fats, which are being phased out of food because they clog arteries, may raise the risk of getting breast cancer, European researchers report. They found that women with the highest levels of trans-fats had about twice the risk of breast cancer compared to women with the lowest levels.
The researchers wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology that they can only recommend limiting the consumption of processed foods, which are the source of industrially produced trans-fatty acid. Trans-fats or trans-fatty acids are made in creating artificially hardened fats - in the process of hydrogenization for instance.
They were, ironically, meant to be healthful replacements for artery-clogging saturated fats such as butter and lard. But the process of making vegetable oil behave like butter made it as unhealthful as butter. New York and California have banned trans-fats in restaurant foods. Canada and Britain have considered it, and countless food companies have dropped them as an ingredient.
French researchers looked at blood samples collected between 1995 and 1998 from 25,000 women, who had volunteered to report on their eating and lifestyle habits, and then be followed for years to see if they developed cancer. They studied 363 women diagnosed with breast cancer, comparing their blood levels of fatty acids with those of women without cancer.
The higher the levels of trans-fatty acids, the more likely a woman was to have cancer.
Women with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, being studied for their potential benefits to health, were not any less likely to have breast cancer.
Obese women are more likely to develop breast cancer, among other types of cancer, and high-fat diets are also linked with breast cancer.
Trans-fats can also be found in cooking fats, baked goods, snacks and a variety of other prepared foods. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty fish such as salmon, walnuts and leafy green vegetables.
APRIL 2008: Eat Your Fruit and Veggies
Older women who stick to a low-fat, high-fibre diet could cut their odds for deadly ovarian cancer, new research shows.
In fact, postmenopausal women who stayed on the regimen for more than eight years reduced their risk for the disease by 40 per cent. Those who saw the greatest benefit from the low-fat diet were women who had originally eaten a relatively high-fat diet.
On average, the women had managed to add one serving of fruits or vegetables to their daily diet by the end of the six year follow up. They had also reduced their daily fat consumption by about 8 percent.
The findings support the idea that lifestyle changes can be made with intensive help. Reducing your cancer risk through diet and exercise if difficult, especially if these habits are longstanding.
These findings come on the heels of a similar study which showed that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables helps reduce the risk of head and neck cancers, as well the low-fat diets cutting the odds of breast and colorectal cancers.
MARCH 2008: Smoking and Colon Cancer
Smokers and people with significant exposure to secondhand smoke should start getting screened for colon cancer five to ten years earlier than the current recommended age of 50, a new study says.
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York analysed the cases of 3,450 colon cancer patients, and found that current smokers were diagnosed with the cancer an average of 6.8 years earlier than people who never smoked, while former smokers who quit less than five years before, were diagnosed 4.3 years earlier than people who never smoked. People who had quit more than five years before were the same as never-smokers.
People who start smoking before age 17, and those who were heavy smokers (one pack or more a day) were most likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer at a younger age.
The study also found that people exposed to second-hand smoke, especially early in life, tended to be younger when they were diagnosed with colon cancer.
The findings were published online in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology.
The message is quite clear: When making decisions about colon cancer screening, you should take in account smoking history as well as family history and age.
Smoking has long been recognized as a major risk factor for many kinds of cancers, but it's only been recently that reasearchers have linked smoking with colon cancer, which is one of the most common kinds of cancer.
FEBUARY 2008: Gardening, Vegetables and Smoking
While genes and environment can affect your risk of cancer, so can everyday lifestyle choices on things such as diet, exercise and smoking, new research shows.
The findings were presented in early December in Philadelphia, at an American Association for Cancer Research conference on cancer prevention. One study found that people who quit smoking can further reduce their risk of lung cancer by eating plenty of vegetables (four or more servings of salad a week or equivalent). Former smokers who get exercise through gardening are 45 per cent less likely to get lung cancer than former smokers who don't garden. Current smokers who ate three servings or less of salad a week were two times more likely to develop lung cancer than current smokers who ate four or more salads a week. Current smokers who gardened were 23 per cent less likely to get lung cancer than current smokers who didn't garden.
This preliminary analysis gives important clues about how everyone - smokers and non smokers alike - might be able to reduce their risk of developing lung cancer.
The study clearly shows that we may benefit from eating a healthy diet and being physically active.
A second study suggests that males may be more prone to developing cancer than females because of gender differences in antioxidant levels and the ability to repair DNA damage. Reseach using mice showed why men develop three times as many squamous cell skin cancers than women, and why men are more prone to developing cancer in general.
A third study showed that black Americans may have a more difficult time giving up smoking, because they have much lower levels of an enzyme that metabolises nicotine and nicotine byproducts than whites. This means that blacks may experience higher nicotine levels when smoking, which makes it more difficult for them to kick the habit.
JANUARY 2008: Make Mine Green!
Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer, according to a study by researchers at Japan's National Cancer Centre.
According to the report, men who drank five or more cups a day might halve the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.
This does not mean though, that people who drink green tea are guaranteed to have reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer, according to one of the researchers.
"We are just presenting the results" he said. "But the study does point to the hope that green tea reduces the risk of advanced prostate cancer."
Prostate cancer is much less common among Asian men than Western men, and that may be partly due to the affects of the high consumption of green tea in Asia, the study said.
Further studies are needed to confirm the preventative effects of green tea on prostate cancer, including well-designed clinical trials.
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, compiled data from 50,000 men, aged 40 to 69 years, over a period of up to 14 years from 1990."
Happy New Year, and my best wishes to our subscribers!
ABOUT GERALD QUIGLEY:
Gerald Quigley is a practicing Community Pharmacist, as well as an Accredited Herbalist. These joint qualifications have given Gerald a unique overview of health from a holistic perspective. What this means to you is that Gerald just doesn't look at the symptomatic relief of a health challenge, but offers support through the recovery process with advice on complementary medicines, integrating them with any prescribed medicines, to encourage a healthy outcome. Gerald believes that the current system of symptomatic treatment only, leaves a gap in the recovery phase. Our health is something we value and, just like servicing a car, needs constant fine tuning in times of illness and exposure to constant stress, whatever the type.
Gerald is concerned that as newer medicines are released, patients need more and more information to help them understand the medicine's actions and expected outcomes. What medicine can be taken with what vitamins and nutritional support, are they safe in the long term, are they any better than the tried and true medicines that have been around for a long time... these are questions which Gerald is constantly challenged by. The information on this website will not, and never should, take the place of direct consultation with a health professional. The information is a guide only, to help you understand the complex health issues which confront all of us.
PROFESSIONAL DETAILS:
Bachelor of Pharmacy
Diploma of Botanical Medicine
Post Graduate Diploma of Ayurvedic Herbology
Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Pharmacy Practice
Member of:
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
Australian College of Pharmacy Practice
National Herbalists Association of Australia
Australian Traditional Medicine Society
The Assoc. of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia
Australian Homeobotanical Institute of Australia
Australian College of Environmental and Nutritional Medicine
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