Archive for June 1st, 2006
Find out what challenges you may face as you return to work after cancer treatment or continue to work after your cancer diagnosis.
For most people, work is a healthy part of life. Continuing to work during your cancer treatment or returning to work if you’ve taken some time off can make you feel healthier and more productive.
Working gives you something to focus on besides your illness, helps you feel more in control and keeps you connected to people who care about you.
Whether you’re returning to work after time off or continuing to work during your cancer treatment, you’ll likely face some obstacles at your workplace. Prepare yourself by planning ahead and knowing what to do in each situation.
Decide who needs to know about your cancer
You need to decide whether you want your co-workers to know about your cancer and, if so, how open you want to be. There’s no right or wrong approach. You may want your supervisor to tell your co-workers about your cancer, or you may choose to do it yourself. Do what’s comfortable for you.
You don’t have to tell anyone about your cancer. If you’re a private person, you can keep it to yourself. But, for practical reasons, it may make sense to tell your boss at the very least. If you need to take time off or need to work flexible hours, your boss will probably want to know why.
Expect varied reactions to your cancer from your co-workers
Everyone deals with the news of cancer differently. Many of your co-workers will have questions and concerns. Some may seem to avoid you. Others may be overly solicitous. Some may even fear your cancer is contagious. Determine how you want to deal with others’ behavior toward you. By and large, others will take their cues from you.
If you run into problems, resolve issues face to face with the person who is having a difficult time with your situation. Take your concerns to your supervisor if you and your co-worker can’t work things out.
Work with your supervisor to make your workload manageable
Depending on what you do, you might need some accommodations to complete your work. Whether that’s flexible hours, job sharing or an entirely different task will depend on your needs. Talk with your supervisor about what changes can be made. Some people schedule treatments on Friday afternoons so that they have the weekend to rest and recuperate. Fatigue is common during and after cancer treatment, so plan accordingly.
Know your rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act offer protection from discrimination on the job. The Americans with Disabilities Act protects you from discrimination from your employer. It also states that you must be given “reasonable accommodations” to continue doing your job, if necessary. The Family and Medical Leave Act allows you to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave from your job for a serious medical condition without losing your job.
In addition, your state may have laws to protect you from employment discrimination. For questions regarding your particular situation, speak with someone from the human resources (HR) department of your organization. If your workplace doesn’t have an HR department, consult a lawyer regarding your concerns or contact your local chapter of the American Cancer Society.
Educate your co-workers about cancer
Some people may treat you differently or discriminate against you because they don’t know much about cancer. Or they may believe stereotypes of people with cancer. For instance, they may believe cancer is a death sentence.
Organize brown-bag lunch meetings for your workplace with a speaker from your community who can talk about cancer. Correct people who make inaccurate assumptions about you based on the fact that you have cancer.
June 1st, 2006
More than half of Americans miss out on cheap ways to live longer
MSNBC
What simple preventive health measures would help us live healthier, longer lives for the least money? After reviewing more than 8,000 studies, the Partnership for Prevention came up with its ranking of the top 25 services:
1. Daily aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke in women older than 50 and men over 40.
2. Immunize children against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, chickenpox and the flu.
3. Screen for tobacco use and counsel users to help them quit.
4. Screen for colorectal cancer among adults 50 and older.
5. Check blood pressure in all adults, and treat with hypertension drugs if needed.
6. Annual flu shots for adults 50 and older.
7. Vaccinate against pneumonia infections in adults 65 and older.
8. Screen for problem drinking and counsel alcohol users.
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Most Americans miss out on preventive health steps
9. Vision checks for adults 65 and older.
10. Cervical-cancer screening for sexually active women and those older than 21.
11. Cholesterol testing for men 35 and older and women 45 and older.
12. Routine breast-cancer screening for women 50 and older. Women ages 40-49 should discuss screening options with their doctor.
13. Chlamydia screening for sexually active women under age 25.
14. Calcium supplements for adolescent girls and women.
15. Vision screening for kids younger than 5.
16. Folic acid supplements for women planning to become pregnant.
17. Obesity screening and diet and exercise counseling for the obese.
18. Depression screening for adults.
19. Hearing screening for those 65 and older.
20. Child-safety measures such as car seats, stair guards, poison control, pool fences, bicycle helmets.
21. Osteoporosis screening for women 65 and older.
22. High-risk cholesterol testing for men ages 20 to 35 and women 20 to 45 if they have risk factors for heart disease.
23. Diabetes screening for adults with high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
24. Diet counseling for patients with high cholesterol or other chronic diseases.
25. Tetanus-diphtheria booster shot for adults every 10 years.
For the full report, visit: prevent.org/nccp
Source: Priorities for America’s Health: Capitalizing on Life-Saving, Cost-Effective Preventive Service, by the Partnership for Prevention.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
June 1st, 2006
Fit fast food into your weight-loss or healthy diet plan. Make wise meal choices and practice moderation in portion control and menu selections.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
Can fast food be part of a weight-loss or healthy diet plan? You might not think so. In fact, you might even think that you can’t have a meal that’s both quick and healthy.
But this isn’t necessarily so. An occasional stop at a fast-food restaurant can fit into a healthy diet plan. The key is to choose wisely.
1 Keep portion sizes small. If the fast-food restaurant offers several sandwich sizes, pick the smallest or order half a sandwich, if available. Bypass hamburgers with two or three beef patties, which can pack more than 1,000 calories and 70 grams of fat. Instead, choose a regular- or children’s-sized hamburger, which has about 250 to 300 calories. Also, skip the large serving of french fries or onion rings and ask for a small serving instead. This switch alone saves about 300 calories. Or better yet, select a lower calorie option.
2 Choose a healthier side dish. Take advantage of healthy side dishes offered at many fast-food restaurants. For example, instead of french fries choose a side salad with low-fat dressing or a baked potato. Or add a fruit bowl or a fruit and yogurt option to your meal. Other healthy choices include apple or orange slices, corn on the cob, steamed rice, or baked potato chips.
3 Go for the greens. Choose a large entree salad with grilled chicken, shrimp or garden vegetables with fat-free or low-fat dressing on the side, rather than regular salad dressing, which can have 300 or more calories per packet. Watch out for high-calorie salads, such as those with deep-fried shells or those topped with breaded chicken or other fried toppings. Also, skip salad extras such as cheese, bacon bits, croutons and fried chips, which quickly increase your calorie count.
4 Opt for grilled items. Fried and breaded foods, such as crispy chicken sandwiches and breaded fish fillets, are high in fat and calories. Select grilled or roasted lean meats — such as turkey or chicken breast, lean ham, or lean roast beef.
5 Have it your way. Don’t settle for what comes with your sandwich or meal. Ask for healthier options and substitutions. For example, ask for reduced-fat mayonnaise or mustard on your sandwich. Or at a fast-food Mexican restaurant, request salsa with your meal instead of shredded cheese and nacho cheese sauce. Try to avoid special dressings, tartar sauce, sour cream and other high-calorie condiments.
6 Watch what you drink. Many beverages contain a large number of calories. For example, a large soda (32 ounces) has about 400 calories. Instead, order diet soda, water, unsweetened iced tea, sparkling water or mineral water. Also, skip the shakes and other ice-cream drinks, which can contain more than 1,000 calories and all of your saturated fat allotment for the day.
You can eat healthy away from home, even at fast-food restaurants. The bottom line: Be choosy. Make wise menu choices and focus on portion control.
June 1st, 2006
Estrogen a top suspect in why the disease acts differently in women
WASHINGTON -
Lung cancer acts differently in women than in men, and major new studies are exploring if estrogen is a key reason — and whether harnessing the hormone might help fight the No. 1 cancer killer.
The gender link may sound surprising.
After all, ask women what cancer they worry most about, and surveys show breast cancer consistently tops the list while lung cancer is seldom mentioned.
Yet lung cancer is increasingly a women’s problem. It will claim more than 162,000 lives this year, 72,000 of them women. That’s more women than are killed by breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers combined.
While male deaths from lung cancer have been dropping since 1991, women’s death rates are stubbornly holding steady. Much of that difference is attributed to gender variations in smoking, lung cancer’s main cause.
But consider: Women tend to get different kinds of lung cancer than men. While it’s unclear if they’re at greater risk of developing the disease, some research suggests they may absorb more cancer-causing chemicals from cigarettes and become sick after smoking less. Among people who never smoked, more women than men are diagnosed with lung cancer.
Hunt for biological clues
On the other hand, women tend to survive lung cancer slightly better than their male counterparts. And some of the newest lung cancer drugs, Tarceva and Iressa, seem to work more often in women.
Teasing out the biology behind the gender differences could lead to improved treatment for everyone, says Dr. Kathy Albain, a lung cancer specialist at Loyola University Health System.
She is heading a National Cancer Institute-funded study that is recruiting 720 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients to examine what hormones, genes or other molecular factors explain why lung cancer behaves differently in men and women, smokers and nonsmokers.
“We’re learning what’s going on in the lung, and whether or not this is a real thing that can be exploited for cancer treatment,” she says.
Understanding estrogen
Estrogen already is a leading suspect.
“We’re just at the infancy” of exploring the hormone’s role in lung cancer, cautions University of Pittsburgh pharmacologist Jill Siegfried, a pioneer in the field.
But two provocative studies are getting under way:
• Siegfried’s research suggests estrogen may act as a fuel for lung tumors just like it does for many breast tumors, and that blocking estrogen with the same drugs that breast cancer patients use might also work in the lungs. So a 120-patient study at Pittsburgh and the University of California, Los Angeles, will test whether women fare better when given the anti-estrogen drug Faslodex on top of the lung cancer drug Tarceva.
Why that combination? Estrogen receptors, or docking ports, in lung tumors seem to switch on a cancer growth factor that Tarceva specifically targets. The hope is to deal the tumor a double whammy by blocking both.
• The second study, involving 600 women around the country, tests an experimental drug called Xyotax that may need estrogen to work.
Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics Inc. reformulated the older cancer drug Taxol, covering it with a protein designed to let it reach the lungs with fewer side effects. In three large studies, this new Xyotax didn’t seem to improve survival over older competitors — until researchers checked gender effects. Some 45 percent of women given Xyotax survived lung cancer for a year, compared with just 25 percent of women given standard drugs or men given either regimen. And the women with the most estrogen in their blood fared best.
Estrogen seems to activate an enzyme inside tumors that unlocks Xyotax’s cancer-fighting ingredient from its covering, explains Siegfried.
However all this gender-based research turns out, Siegfried hopes it raises more awareness that lung cancer is a threat to women.
“Right now, the average woman goes in to her doctor and says, ‘I have a cough’ or something, and they’ll just assume it’s an infection or some noncancerous process,” Siegfried says. “When really, they ought to get a chest X-ray … much sooner to rule out lung cancer. Because they may have it.”
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
June 1st, 2006
A closer look at research shows why you need calcium, vitamin D
By Karen Collins, R.D.
For a long time, the need for eating calcium to strengthen bones was almost unquestioned.
But when results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial were released earlier this year, some people wondered whether trying to increase calcium consumption was worth the effort.
A more detailed look at the results provides several take-home lessons. Giving up calcium is not one of them.
In the WHI studies, more than 36,000 women aged 50 to 79 were randomly assigned to take either a supplement of 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium and 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin D or a placebo each day for about seven years. Although the hip bone density of the women who took supplements improved only slightly and their risk of fractures was the same, the data revealed important lessons.
1. More calcium helps only if you don’t get enough. Half of all older American women eat less than 650 mg of calcium from food each day, although 1,200 mg is recommended for all adults after age 50. At the beginning of this study, however, almost one-third of the women in both groups took calcium supplements of at least 500 mg daily.
Researchers did not ask the women to stop. “Since the women in the supplement and placebo groups both started the study consuming about 1,150 mg of calcium a day,” notes Jeri Nieves, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University, “this ended up being a comparison of 1,000 mg versus 2,000 mg of calcium a day not inadequate versus adequate calcium.”
2. You may need more vitamin D. Current federal recommendations for adults aged 51 to 70 still call for the 400 IU daily used in these studies. Yet research now shows that 700 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D a day appears necessary to reach the most healthy blood levels of vitamin D. A daily intake of 400 IU is now considered inadequate to prevent fractures.
3. You need consistently high nutrients for benefits. By the end of the trial, only 59 percent of women were still taking their pills as instructed. The women who actually took their calcium and vitamin D supplements had 29 percent fewer hip fractures.
4. Develop a cancer-protection strategy you can follow. Although no significant difference was seen in cancer risk, tumor characteristics, or reports of polyps in this study, a seven-year study is not enough time to see the effects on a disease that typically develops over 10 to 20 years. It should be noted, however, that women who started the study with low blood levels of vitamin D developed more than twice as much colorectal cancer as those with the highest blood levels.
This evidence supports the idea that long-term vitamin D status may affect our risk for this cancer. The women with the lowest blood levels of this vitamin also tended to show the most benefit from supplements.
Longer usages and higher doses than now recommended might have produced truly significant effects in the women who lacked vitamin D.
Another new study of more than 45,000 Swedish men supports adequate consumption of calcium. Men in the top half of calcium consumption were 27 to 32 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who consumed less. Although a few but definitely not all studies have linked excessive calcium or dairy product consumption with a possible increase in prostate cancer, the colorectal protection in this study occurred when men ate at least an average of the currently recommended 1,200 mg per day.
5. For bone health and lower colon cancer risk, meeting current recommendations for calcium and vitamin D is a good start. For optimal wellness protection, add regular exercise, weight control, limited sodium intake and a balanced, mostly plant-based diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains to your daily habits.
Nutrition Notes is provided by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
June 1st, 2006