More from the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research conference

This issue of Life Extension Update reports yet another significant finding concerning the effect of nutrition on the risk of cancer presented at the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research conference. The research concerns a protective effect for cruciferous vegetables that is specific to
smokers.

Cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale, have been shown to provide protection against several types of cancer, yet the current research is the first comprehensive study to demonstrate a protective effect for the vegetables against lung cancer for smokers and former smokers.

At the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, held November 16-18, 2008 in National Harbor, Maryland, Roswell Park Cancer Institute post-doctoral fellow Li Tang, PhD reported the results of a hospital-based study, conducted by Dr Tang and colleagues, which compared lung cancer patients matched for smoking status with control subjects who did not have cancer.

Analysis of dietary intake found a strong association between a lower risk of lung cancer and greater consumption of fruit, total vegetables, and cruciferous vegetables. While the intake of fruit and total vegetables had a stronger protective effect among those who had never smoked, the benefit for cruciferous vegetables was found to exist only in smokers. Continue Reading

Drinking red wine associated with reduced lung cancer risk in male smokers

In the October, 2008 issue of the American Association for Cancer research journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention¸ California Kaiser Permanente researchers report yet another benefit associated with drinking red wine: a lower risk of lung cancer.

Chun Chao, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Research and Evaluation in Pasadena, California, and colleagues analyzed data from the California Men’s Health Study of 84,170 men aged 45 to 69. Surveys completed between 2000 and 2003 provided information concerning demographics and lifestyle characteristics, including type and frequency of alcoholic beverage consumption. Over the three year period, 210 cases of lung cancer were identified.

Among men who reported ever having smoked, drinking one or more glasses of red wine per day was associated with a 61 percent lower adjusted risk of lung cancer compared to the risk experienced by those who did not consume red wine. For each glass of red wine consumed per month, a 2 percent reduction in lung cancer risk was noted among those who had ever smoked, and for those who reported having been heavy smokers, a 4 percent reduction was observed.

No effect for beer, liquor, or white wine was observed. "An antioxidant component in red wine may be protective of lung cancer, particularly among smokers," Dr Chao stated. “Red wine is known to contain high levels of antioxidants. There is a compound called resveratrol that is very rich in red wine because it is derived from the grape skin. This compound has shown significant health benefits in preclinical studies." Continue Reading

Magnesium associated with protection from stroke in male smokers

The March 10, 2008 issue of the AMA journal Archives of Internal Medicine revealed the finding of researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, that men who smoke may acquire some protection against stroke by consuming greater amounts of the mineral magnesium.

The current study included 26,556 participants in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta- Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study, a randomized, double-blind trial that tested the preventive ability of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) or beta-carotene on lung cancer in older male Finnish smokers.

Dietary questionnaires administered at the beginning of the study were evaluated for calcium, magnesium and potassium intake levels. The men were followed for an average of 13.6 years, during which 2,702 cerebral infarctions, 383 intracerebral hemorrhages, 196 subarachnoid hemorrhages, and 84 unspecified types of stroke occurred. Continue Reading

Lifestyle improvements enhance telomerase activity

An article appearing online on September 16, 2008 in The Lancet Oncology reports a pilot study conducted by Dean Ornish, MD and colleagues which found that adopting positive lifestyle changes increases the activity of telomerase, the enzyme responsible for maintaining telomeres. Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes that cap the ends of chromosomes, aiding in their stabilization.

Telomere length is associated with cellular age, and adequate telomere length is vital to maintaining cells, including immune system cells which protect the body against a number of diseases, such as cancer. Longer telomere length has been associated with increased resistance to disease and premature death in prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancer.

The current study involved 24 patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Dr Ornish, of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, and his associates at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a three day intensive residential retreat followed by a three month comprehensive lifestyle modification program.

Participants were asked to adopt diets that limited fat to 10 percent of their calorie intake, and which contained a low amount of refined carbohydrates, abundant amounts of whole grains, fruit and vegetables, and supplemental soy protein powder, fish oil, vitamin E, selenium, and vitamin C. The subjects were also asked to engage in moderate aerobic exercise for one half hour per day and one hour stress management periods for six days per week, in addition to a one hour weekly group support session. Blood samples were analyzed for telomerase activity and other factors, and psychological distress was evaluated at the beginning of the study and at the end of the three month treatment period. Continue Reading