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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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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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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A high intake of dairy products can increase the risk of prostate cancer by as much as 30% according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2001.

The researchers, based at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, used data from the Physicians’ Health Study which involved more than 20,000 men from the United States who were followed from 1984 to 1995.

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A form of Vitamin E known as alpha-tocopherol may reduce both the risk of developing and dying from prostate cancer in smokers according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The study, which was published back in 1998 by researchers at the Department of Public Health in Helsinki, Finland, looked at the effect of daily supplementation of 20mg of beta-carotene and/or 50mg of alpha-tocopherol on the risk of prostate cancer. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that is converted by the body into Vitamin A.

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A new study has found that men who eat at least 400g of broccoli a week (around three servings) may be at a decreased risk of developing prostate cancer due to broccoli’s ability to modify the expression of certain genes involved in the development of prostate cancer.

The study was carried out by researchers from Norwich in the United Kingdom and was published in the July issue of the journal PLoS One. Researchers followed 22 men aged between 57 and 70 who were at high risk of developing prostate cancer.

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A new study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute earlier this year has found that Vitamin D is not effective in reducing the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Recent studies have found a link between vitamin D levels and a reduction in the risk of many forms of cancer such as melanoma, breast, colon, and lung cancer however studies on the relationship between vitamin D intake and prostate cancer have yielded conflicting results to date.

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Those who have diabetes are less likely to develop prostate cancer, particularly advanced prostate cancer according to a recent study. Diabetics tend to have lower testosterone levels than non-diabetics which is thought to be responsible for the lower incidence of prostate cancer observed in diabetic individuals.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2004, involved comparing the diabetes status of 1,110 individuals from the US Physicians Heath Study who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and comparing them to 1,110 control subjects who were free of prostate cancer.

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Prostate cancer is very common in western countries but quite rare in Asian countries. Many researchers believe this is due to the large amounts of green tea consumed in Asian countries and several research studies have confirmed a link between green tea consumption and lower rates of prostate cancer.

The largest of these studies was carried out at the Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening at the National Cancer Center (NCC) in Tokyo, Japan. Data was gathered by questioning 49,920 men between the ages of 40 and 69 on their green tea drinking habits.

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A scientific study has shown that three popular vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, and folic acid (vitamin B9) do not reduce lung cancer risk. Furthermore, researchers found a small but significant increase in lung cancer risk amongst smokers taking vitamin E supplements.

The research, which is reported in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, followed 77,126 American men and women from the state of Washington aged between 50 and 76.

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Most people know that being overweight increases your risk of developing diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. What a lot of people don’t realise however is that being overweight also increases your risk of developing many forms of cancer.

The most comprehensive study on the environmental and lifestyle factors responsible for cancer is known as “The Cancer Prevention Study 2″. The study was conducted from 1982 to 1997 and followed 1.2 million American men and women

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A new genetic test, that could be on the market within a few years, aims to accurately determine a man’s likelihood of developing prostate cancer.

Swedish scientists have determined the role that certain inherited genetic markers play in making some men more susceptible to the disease. Currently five genes are known to play a role in prostate cancer, however each of these genes by itself has only a small impact on the probability of a person developing prostate cancer.

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