Smart Food Choices Key to a Healthy Barbeque

SATURDAY, Aug. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Choosing healthy foods to barbeque -- and even barbequing with marinades instead of high-fat sauces -- can help reduce your risk of heart disease as well as stroke, experts say.

Many common barbeque favorites, such as pork, ribs and even corn on the cob, are often slathered with rich sauces that are high in calories, fats and salt. There are, however, healthier ways to barbeque that are also delicious, according to Dr. Vivienne Halpern, a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery.

"Grilling lean meats and vegetables without heavy sauces are wonderful for the barbeque," explained Halpern in a society news release. "These can become your family's new favorites." A fresh salad and watermelon for dessert will make the meal complete, she suggested.

When firing up the grill, instead of barbequing hot dogs and hamburgers, Halpern suggested choosing lean proteins that are lower in fat, calories and cholesterol, such as chicken, fish, turkey, sirloin, turkey, buffalo or veggie burgers. Halpern also pointed out that olive oil-based marinades and lemon juice are healthier ways to add flavor to grilled meats and vegetables.

"It's true that we are what we eat," added Halpern. "Our food choices affect our caloric intake, cholesterol and sodium."

Halpern's recommendations underscore the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The guidelines urge Americans to eat more of the following:

Fruits and vegetablesWhole grainsLow-fat milk productsLean meats, beans, eggs, nutsFishFoods low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugar

Americans can also control their blood pressure and cholesterol, Halpern added, with moderate exercise (such as walking 30 minutes each day), not smoking and maintaining a healthy body weight.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has more about heart and vascular diseases.

SOURCE: Society for Vascular Surgery, news release, Aug. 1, 2011

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Stomach Cancer Tumors Have Genetic Differences: Researchers

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Stomach cancer tumors have genetic differences, which determine how they respond to treatment, researchers have found.

In identifying two distinct versions of the disease, scientists found that a certain regimen of chemotherapy is more effective on one tumor type, while another drug works best on the other. The study authors said their findings would help doctors more effectively treat gastric cancer patients.

"Our study is the first to show that a proposed molecular classification of gastric cancer can identify genomic subtypes that respond differently to therapies, which is crucial in efforts to customize treatments for patients," study senior author Dr. Patrick Tan, associate professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program at the Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School, said in a university news release.

A microscopic pathology test developed in the 1960s, known as the Lauren classification, is a general description (either intestinal or diffuse) of how well the tumor cells clump together. The Singapore-based team at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, however, was able to distinguish gastric cancer tumors where the Lauren test could not.

"There is a general assumption in the field that intestinal and diffuse gastric cancers [as classified by Lauren] represent two very different versions of gastric cancer, and now genomic data confirms this by demonstrating that the two genomic subtypes have very different molecular patterns," said Tan.

In profiling 37 stomach cancer cell lines, the researchers found two distinct patterns. Moreover, in accurately defining these tumor subtypes, they were also able to observe differences in how well each responded to chemotherapy.

"The exact mechanistic reasons for this difference are currently unclear, and this is an area that we are actively working on," noted Tan, adding that the researchers are working to find more specific vulnerabilities to drugs.

The researchers said they plan further research in which gastric cancer tumors will be genetically profiled to determine the most effective treatment.

The study findings were published in the Aug. 1 edition of Gastroenterology.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about stomach cancer.

SOURCE: Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, news release, Aug. 1, 2011

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Urine Test Might Help Predict Prostate Cancer Risk

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- A new urine test might help doctors detect prostate cancer and better evaluate a patient's treatment options, researchers say.

"This is a tool that men and their physician can use to help them decide whether it's appropriate to get a biopsy now or delay that decision," said lead researcher Dr. Scott Tomlins, a pathology resident at the University of Michigan Health System.

The test looks for two genetic markers associated with prostate cancer. The first, called TMPRSS2:ERG, is caused by two genes changing places and fusing together; it is thought to cause prostate cancer. Since the gene fusion is only seen in about half of cancer patients, the test also looks for another marker, called PCA3.

"We are exploiting some new bio-markers to try to refine the PSA [prostate-specific antigen] test," Tomlins said.

The PSA test can indicate prostate cancer, but it is unreliable, often producing false positives and false negatives, Tomlins said. "You can have low PSA and have cancer, or high PSA and not have cancer," he said.

The two genetic markers may be more reliable indicators of prostate cancer, he said. One of them, TMPRSS2:ERG, is only seen in cancer, he added.

Together, they can be used "to stratify men into saying, 'You have a high chance of having cancer, and you should get a biopsy now, or if you are in a lower risk group you have a much lower risk of cancer and perhaps you could delay the biopsy,'" Tomlins said.

However, Tomlins cautioned that the test is not perfect. "It's hard to recommend that someone not get a biopsy, because there is always a chance you are going to miss a cancer that doesn't have either of these two markers," he said.

For the study, published in the Aug. 3 issue of Science Translational Medicine, Tomlins' team studied urine samples from 1,312 men who had high PSA levels and had had a prostate biopsy or surgery to remove the prostate.

The researchers specifically looked for the two markers and used them to slot the men into high-, intermediate- or low-risk groups for prostate cancer. They then compared their results with the results from biopsies, which are done with a needle in a physician's office for detection of any cancer cells.

Based on the biopsies, cancer was found in 21 percent of the men in the low-risk group, in 43 percent of the intermediate-risk group and in 69 percent of the high-risk group.

The researchers said the findings of the urine tests correlated with tumor size and the cancer's aggressiveness. In the low-risk group, only 7 percent had aggressive cancer, compared with 40 percent of the men classified as high-risk, they found.

One limitation of the study is that most patients were Caucasian, so further studies are needed to see whether the findings extend to all men, the researchers noted.

Although not yet available to the public, the test soon will be offered at the University of Michigan, Tomlins said.

The test is licensed to Gen-Probe, a San Diego maker of genetically based diagnostic tests. Mike Watt, a company spokesman, said the test is still in the early stages of development and has not been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval. The company has no firm idea of the test's cost should it be approved, Watt added.

Study funding was supported in part by Gen Probe, and the University of Michigan and Brigham and Womens Hospital have obtained a patent on the detection of ETS gene fusion in prostate cancer, in which four co-authors are listed as co-inventors.

A prostate cancer expert, Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the test is "a step forward, but we still have a ways to go."

"On average the risk is higher in people with both markers and lowest in people who have neither, but that's on average," D'Amico said.

If a patient has indications of an aggressive prostate cancer, the test can add more to that diagnosis, D'Amico said. But for men who potentially have cancer, a low-risk determination based on this test shouldn't preclude biopsy, he said.

"It adds fuel to the fire when you suspect something bad, but I don't think it takes you out of the woods when these markers are not present," D'Amico said.

More information

For more information on prostate cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: Scott Tomlins, M.D., Ph.D., pathology resident, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor; Anthony D'Amico, M.D., Ph.D., chief, radiation oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; Mike Watt, spokesman, Gen-Probe, San Diego, Calif.; Aug. 3, 2011, Science Translational Medicine

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Growing Up Near Livestock Tied to Blood Cancers

THURSDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- Children raised on livestock farms are at significantly greater risk of developing blood cancers -- such as leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- later in life, a new study contends.

The researchers pointed out that further studies will be needed before a definitive cause and effect can be established, but they suggested that exposure to particular viruses during childhood may modify the immune system response and result in a higher risk for blood cancer in adulthood.

In conducting the study, published in the July 28 online edition of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, researchers compiled information from 114,000 death certificates for people between 35 and 85 years of age who died between 1998 and 2003 in New Zealand.

The study found that over the five-year period, more than 3,000 deaths were attributed to blood cancers. Moreover, the researchers revealed that growing up on a livestock farm was linked to a higher risk. They noted, however, that people who were raised on farms with crops were not more likely to develop blood cancer.

Overall, the risk of developing a blood cancer was 22 percent higher for those who grew up on a livestock farm than those who did not, according to Andrea 't Mannetje, of the Centre for Public Health Research at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand, and colleagues.

Being raised on a poultry farm carried the greatest risk, the researchers noted. Those who had spent their childhood living on a poultry farm were three times more likely to develop a blood cancer than others.

On the flip side, growing up on a crop farm came with a nearly 20 percent lower risk of developing blood cancer, the investigators found.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on blood cancers.

SOURCE: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, news release, July 27, 2011

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Study of Bone Cancer in Dogs May Improve Treatment in Kids

MONDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The discovery of a gene pattern that distinguishes highly aggressive bone cancer in dogs from a less aggressive form may help improve treatment of bone cancer in children, according to researchers.

Other than humans, dogs are the only species that develops bone cancer spontaneously with any frequency. Dogs are more likely than humans to develop bone cancer, but human and dog forms of bone cancer are very similar, explained study team leader Dr. Jaime Modiano, a comparative medicine expert at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota.

The newly discovered gene pattern in dogs is an exact match with humans and may assist in treatment planning for children with bone cancer, according to the report in the September issue of the journal Bone.

"Our findings pave the way to develop laboratory tests that can predict the behavior of this tumor in dogs and children at the time of diagnosis," Modiano said in a university news release. "This allows us to tailor individualized therapy to meet the patient's needs. Patients with less aggressive disease could be treated conservatively, reducing the side effects and the risks associated with treatment, while patients with more aggressive disease could be treated with more intense therapy."

The course and aggressiveness of bone cancer can vary from patient to patient and is difficult to predict. Some patients respond well to conventional treatment and live for decades without recurrence, while others have a poor response and experience a rapid return of bone cancer, the release noted.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about bone cancer.

SOURCE: University of Minnesota, news release, July 28, 2011

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Early Morning Smoking Riskier For Cancer

MONDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Smokers who light up right after they wake up in the morning may be at greater risk for lung, head and neck cancers than those who wait longer before having their first cigarette of the day, a new study finds.

The study was released online Aug. 8 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Cancer.

"These smokers have higher levels of nicotine and possibly other tobacco toxins in their body, and they may be more addicted than smokers who refrain from smoking for a half hour or more," said Joshua Muscat, of Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, in a journal news release. "It may be a combination of genetic and personal factors that cause a higher dependence to nicotine."

In the study, researchers compared 4,775 lung cancer patients with 2,835 smokers who didn't have cancer. They found that those who smoked 31 to 60 minutes after waking up were 1.3 times more likely to develop lung cancer than those who waited at least an hour before lighting up. Meanwhile, those who smoked within 30 minutes of waking up were 1.79 times more likely to develop lung cancer.

In a separate analysis, the investigators compared 1,055 smokers with head and neck cancer with 795 smokers without the disease. Those who smoked 31 to 60 minutes after waking up were 1.42 times more likely to develop cancer than those who waited more than 60 minutes to have a cigarette. Smokers who had their first cigarette within a half hour of waking up were 1.59 times more likely to develop head and neck cancer.

The findings suggest the desire to have a cigarette immediately after waking up may increase smokers' risk for cancer, the researchers concluded. As a result, these smokers would benefit from smoking cessation programs that specifically target this early morning behavior and the greater risks involved, they added.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on the health effects of smoking.

SOURCE: Cancer, news release, Aug. 8, 2011

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Drop in Breast Cancer Death Rates May Not Be Linked to Screening Rates

FRIDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Developed countries have seen a drop in breast cancer death rates in recent years, but a new international study suggests this trend is less about rising screening rates and more about the availability of increasingly effective treatments and improving health-care systems.

The finding stems from an analysis of World Health Organization (WHO) breast cancer data collected between 1980 and 2006, in which French, British and Norwegian researchers compared the screening and fatality rates of several Western European countries. The observations were presented online July 29 in the British Medical Journal.

"The contrast between the time differences in implementation of mammography screening and the similarity in reductions in mortality between the country pairs suggest that screening did not play a direct part in the reductions in breast cancer mortality," a team of researchers led by Philippe Autier, research director of the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France, said in a journal news release.

To explore to what degree breast cancer screening rates appeared to be related to fatality rates, the authors chose six countries for points of comparison.

Northern Ireland was stacked up against the Republic of Ireland; the Netherlands was compared with Belgium/Flanders; and Sweden was examined alongside Norway.

The team noted that medical services and the prevalence of breast cancer death risk factors were comparable in each pairing. However, in the space of the study, the second country of each of the three groups was 10 to 15 years behind the first country in terms of their implementation of mammography screening protocols.

The results: Breast cancer death rates, which dropped across the board, were more or less similar in each country pairing, despite stark differences in screening histories.

For example, fatalities between 1989 and 2006 had plummeted by 29 percent in Northern Ireland, as compared with 26 percent in the Republic of Ireland.

The Netherlands registered a 25 percent drop, compared with a 20 percent to 25 percent drop in Belgium/Flanders, while the downward trend of 16 percent in Sweden compared with 24 percent in Norway.

In general terms, Autier's team also noted breast cancer death rates were not that different among women who had undergone almost no screening as compared with those who had been screened quite often.

And the biggest death rate drop seen overall was among women between the ages of 40 and 49, whether or not they had undergone screening.

Dr. Lauren Cassell, chief of breast surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital (affiliated with Northshore/LIJ) in New York City, cautioned that it's not clear that the current findings are easily generalizable to other nations.

"I'm not sure how well this finding would translate in comparison with the U.S.," she noted. "I suspect that we may be more aggressive in our screening protocols, and our health system is very different from the ones they looked at."

"And, in any case, I would certainly say that people should continue getting screened," Cassell stressed. "Because we still do know that catching any cancer at an earlier stage does translate into better outcomes and maybe less treatment. Because even if the end result is the same, and fatal, I certainly would like to have a cancer that could be treated with hormonal treatment and not chemotherapy, if possible."

More information

For more on breast cancer screening guidelines in the United States, visit the American Cancer Society.

SOURCE: BMJ, July 28, 2011, news release

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