Almost 1 in 6 cases of cancer is caused by an infectious agent according to a new study published online in The Lancet this month. The study also found that the burden of infection-related cancers was higher in the developing world, in women, and in younger individuals.

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, analysed country specific cancer incidence data, to determine the proportion of cancers in each country that were attributable to infections.

Most scientists agree that a high intake of meat, particularly red meat, increases an individuals risk of developing certain forms of cancer however there is uncertainty over the extent of the link between the two. Comparing cancer rates and meat consumption across different countries provides some interesting insight on the link between meat consumption and cancer. The table below shows the ten countries with the highest and lowest levels of meat consumption per capita.

Around the world, more than 1.38 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 with more than 458,000 women dying from the disease.

There is considerable variation in breast cancer rates between countries. Belgium and Denmark have the highest rates of breast cancer in the world with age standardized rates of 109.2 and 101.1 cases per 100,000 adult women per year respectively. A Belgian women has around a 1 in 7 chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. Bhutan and Mongolia have the lowest rates with just 8 cases per 100,000 women per year (although rates in these countries are almost certainly under-reported due to poor health systems).

The number of cases of lung cancer among women in the UK continues to rise steadily despite dramatic falls in smoking prevalence during the last half of the 20th century according to new data from Cancer Research UK.

In 2009, Cancer Research UK reports that 23,041 new lung cancer cases were diagnosed in men and 18,387 cases in women. This makes lung cancer the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in both men and women, behind prostate and breast cancer respectively.

New research, presented this month at the 2012 American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, has found that overweight and obese men are significantly more likely to experience PSA failure following prostate cancer surgery. PSA failure is generally defined as a detectable PSA level following radical prostatectomy to remove the prostate tumour suggesting that the cancer has not been completely eliminated.

Several recent studies have looked at trends in the mortality differences between smokers and non-smokers. The studies have all produced remarkably similar conclusions – the excess mortality associated with cigarette smoking continues to increase resulting in a growing life expectancy difference between non-smokers and smokers. This is damning for the cigarette industry who have long claimed that increased usage of filtered cigarettes and low tar or “mild” formulations has resulted in a safer product. This simply doesn’t appear to be the case, and if anything, cigarette smokers are at a higher risk of dying from lung cancer, heart disease, and other smoking related illnesses than ever before.

HIV infected individuals are 70% more likely to develop lung cancer, even after adjustment for major lung cancer risk factors such as smoking, according to the results of a study published online in the journal AIDS last month.

Several studies had already found increased rates of lung cancer amongst HIV infected individuals however it had been thought much of the increase was the result of higher smoking rates rather than the disease itself. The prevalence of smoking in HIV infected individuals is around 65% in the USA – more than twice the national average.

While cancer survival rates in the USA have increased significantly over recent decades, African Americans continue to lag behind whites. In 2003, overall 5-year cancer survival rates were 68% for whites and 59% for African Americans. For most cancer sites African Americans have the lowest survival rates of all ethnic groups.

The death rate for all cancers combined is around 30% higher in African American men and 15% higher in African American women compared to their white counterparts. For prostate cancer, death rates are a massive 145% higher in African American men compared to white men.

Men who have developed castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) may be able to slow the growth of prostate tumours by reducing their cholesterol levels according to the results of a recent article published in the open access journal PLoS ONE last month.

While the research was conducted in mice, if the results are replicated in human studies, it could open new treatments for castration-resistant prostate cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat.

While we all know that a significant proportion of cancers are preventable, a recent British study has attempted to quantify the precise percentage of cancers that could be prevented through lifestyle and environmental changes. The authors found that a massive 45% of male cancers and 40% of female cancers could be prevented through simple behavioural changes.

The research, which was led by Professor Max Parkin of the Centre for Cancer Prevention at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, involved the identification of 14 factors that are known to be related to cancer risk.

Despite a fall in overall cancer rates over the last decade or so, child cancer rates have continued to increase steadily and are now up 34% since 1975 recent data from SEER shows. Overall age adjusted cancer rates have been falling since the late 1990s and are now 10% below their peak. Child cancer rates on the other hand have increase steadily by around 1% per year and show no sign of peaking.

Fortunately, most childhood cancers are easily treatable with a 5-year survival rate of 83.9% for cancers diagnosed in those under 20 compared to 66.7% for the general population.

Over the last year or so there has been a number of well publicized studies linking aspirin with a reduction in the risk of developing various forms of cancer. Many people will be wondering if the decreased risk of cancer is sufficient to justify taking a low dose aspirin daily. While doctors normally recommend a low dose aspirin regime to prevent myocardial infarction in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, most shy away from recommending low dose aspirin to apparently healthy individuals.

Simvastatin, a popular statin, may cut the rate of breast cancer recurrence by as much as 30% according to the results of a recent study conducted by American and Danish researchers.

The study, published in October, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, involved almost 18,769 Danish women who were diagnosed with stage 1-3 breast cancer between 1996 and 2003. The women were followed up for an average of 6.8 years. Slightly under 20% of breast cancer patients were prescribed statins following their diagnosis.

There has been alot of debate recently about the safety of soy with respect to the development of breast cancer. One theory that hs been promoted by the anti-soy lobby over the years is that because soy contains estrogen-like compounds, it has the potential to enhance the growth of breast cancer, particularly ER-positive tumours.

The Weston A. Price foundation, which is an organisation funded primarily by meat and dairy farmers, is a classic example of the anti-soy lobby.

High dose supplemental vitamin E does not decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer and may in-fact increase risk slightly according to the results of a study published in the October 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers used data from The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial to determine whether supplementation of either vitamin E, selenium, or both in combination could reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Men who frequently consume eggs are much more likely to die from prostate cancer according to the results of a study published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research last month. The study also found suggestive evidence that consuming large amounts of poultry and processed red meat following prostate cancer diagnosis increased the risk of subsequently dying from the disease.

Olive oil, which is a key component of the Mediterranean diet, has long been known as a heart-healthy oil due to its high levels of mono-unsaturated fat which help keep LDL cholesterol levels in check. Recent studies have also suggested a link between olive oil and a reduced risk of various types of cancer. The most convincing evidence is for breast cancer where numerous studies have found reductions in breast cancer risk of between 20-40% for those who regularly consume olive oil. Some of these studies are summarised below.

The latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released by the CDC contained some interesting data on the prevalence of smoking across different occupational groups.

The prevalence estimates were based on data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2004-2010 which involved a combined 113,226 participants. Researchers found huge differences in smoking rates across various occupational groups with rates as high as 31.4% and as low as 8.7%.