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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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%.

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Statin use has increased dramatically in the United States over the past two decades. In 1990 just 2% of adults over 45 were taking statins to control cholesterol compared to 25% in 2010. Statins are among the most commonly prescribed drugs and are a huge source of revenue for the pharmaceutical industry. While there is no doubt that statins have had a tremendous impact on reducing the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), concerns have been raised about whether long term statin use might increase the risk of cancer.

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Over the years, many scientific studies have looked at whether marijuana smokers are at an increased risk of developing cancer. Interestingly, despite the fact marijuana smoke shares many of the same carcinogens as cigarette smoke, no study has found a significantly increased risk of cancer as a result of smoking marijuana.

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For many years, obesity has been suspected of playing a role in breast cancer risk. Most studies find little association between obesity and breast cancer risk in pre-menopausal women but a significantly increased risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Recent research suggests that measures of central obesity such as waist circumference and the waist-to-hip ratio may be more accurate predictors of breast cancer risk than BMI alone.

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Many smokers want to know their probability of dying from lung cancer in a given time frame, however calculating precise risks can be difficult because there are a variety of factors that influence lung cancer probabilities.

The most important factors influencing lung cancer risk are age, number of years of smoking, average number of cigarettes smoked per day, number of years since smoking ceased (if the individual is a former smoker), and a history of asbestos exposure (working in a high risk occupation for at least 5 years).

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Did you know that your chances of beating cancer depend on the season you are diagnosed in? It may seem bizarre but a large number of studies have found that individuals who are diagnosed with cancer in the summer have a better cancer prognosis than those diagnosed in the winter, apparently due to increased production of vitamin D by the body over the summer months.

A 2004 study, published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control, looked at the effect of sunlight on the prognosis of colon, breast, and prostate cancer in Norway. The researchers found that the case-fatality rate was higher in winter than in other seasons for all three forms of cancer.

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A quick look at the latest figures from SEER, the statistical database provided by the National Cancer Institute, shows that survival rates for most forms of cancer have increased dramatically over the past 30 years or so. Overall, 5 year cancer survival rates have increased from 48.9% in 1975 to 66.7% in 2003. The following graph shows 5-year survival rates for some of the most common forms of cancer.

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Cancer rates vary dramatically between countries, none more so than between Japan and the USA. Overall age adjusted cancer rates in the USA are more than 50% higher than in Japan.

Americans have a 30% chance of developing cancer and a 11.2% chance of dying from it by the age of 75 compared to a 20.4% chance of developing cancer and a 9.7% chance of dying from it in Japan. The only common forms of cancer that are more prevalent in Japan are pancreatic, liver, colorectal, and stomach cancer.

The following table shows age adjusted cancer rates per 100,000 people for both the United States and Japan.

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Carrots are an extremely popular vegetable in the United States and are second only to potatoes in terms of consumption with an average of 12 pounds of carrots consumed per person per year. Carrots are well known for their ability to improve night vision however what is less known is that carrots and other foods rich in carotene may actually protect against lung cancer in both smokers and non-smokers.

One study, published in the journal Cancer Research in 1993, used data on 41,837 women from the Iowa Women’s Health Study to determine the effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on the risk of lung cancer.

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Currently Hungary has the dubious honour of having the highest age standardised rate (ASR) of lung cancer in the world for men and the highest rate overall. At more than 50 cases per 100,000 people per year, Hungary’s lung cancer rate is more than twice the global average. The United States has the highest rate of lung cancer among women and the second highest rate overall. The following table shows the fifteen countries with the highest rates of lung cancer in the world (excludes countries with less than 1 million people).

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A recent study published in The Lancet this month adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests tall people are more likely to develop cancer than their shorter counterparts.

The study, led by British researchers at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, involved almost 1.3 million women who were followed for an average of 9.4 years.

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